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Barn Funnel Weaver/Domestic House spider

Tegenaria Domestica

Photo by wiisttisd8
Published on Project Noah
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31.9438, -94.2441

Field Notes

Description:

The coloring of an adult T. domestica is typically dark orange to brown or beige (maybe even grayish), with a common characteristic of striped legs and two dull, black, horizontal stripes on the head. The abdomen is brown, beige, and grey and has a pattern of chevrons running lengthwise across the top (similar to an argyle pattern).

Habitat:

Domestic house spiders range worldwide from as north as Sweden to as south as Greece in Europe and from as north as Maritime Canada to as south as Louisiana in North America. Some also inhabit parts of Western Asia

Notes:

This spider builds a funnel-shaped web to catch its prey. It usually consists of a multitude of stressed silk threads spun over a flat surface (such as a window sill) near any corner, with a funnel-like structure reaching for the corner, in which the spider would typically reside (hence the name). These webs can become quite large if undisturbed. They act like cord strings, helping the spider glide over them, and once a prey stumbles into the web, it will quickly get attacked, then dragged inside the funnel part and eaten, but very rarely stored underneath the structure.[2]

Females that dwell indoors would usually live for over one or two years on the same web, with some residing for as long as seven years in rarely disturbed places (attics, basement or cellar parts, storage rooms, etc.). Outdoor females perish with cold weather and males rarely live for over a year. In late Fall, an egg sac is made containing up to 50 eggs and put in the very tip of the funnel, protected by the female. The spiderlings will hatch in early to mid April and go over seven molts to reach adulthood.

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