Yvonne and her husband encountered this monster on the ceiling of Yvonne's home office. Her husband sat safely on the couch and ten feet away (this scenario has played out in my own household too often), while the brave and intrepid Yvonne took out a deli container and captured it. After taking a few snapshots and firing them off for our viewing pleasure, she released the monster in her back yard, where it will have to contend with tarantulas and Great Danes--and probably win.
Anyone know what kind of spider this is? It looks like a huntsman, but this spider was found in Arizona, US. As Yvonne noticed, it appears to be wearing boxing gloves. Pugilist spider? Mixed Martial Arts Spider? Anyone? Hello?
One of these boogers, maybe? Or perhaps these? Hard to tell from those pictures.
ReplyDeleteOMG - This is why I live in the Frozen North, where 8-legged critters are limited in how big they can get by several months of hellish cold. My head would explode with sheer terror if this little darlin' was on my ceiling. Lemme think... -40F or a humongous spider... hmm, now which one is worse?
ReplyDeleteMy only comment is...
ReplyDeleteWhy did I click the link to this blog while I was eating?!
*green*
Male Hobo Spider. The "boxing gloves are its "man parts".
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think Pugilistic Spider would be a good name for a band.
ReplyDeleteBe very careful with those, hobos are poisonous spiders. It does look like one.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a hobo spider at all.
ReplyDeleteThis is a huntsman. Heteropoda sp. The boxing gloves are because it's a mature male. Those are the sexual organs.
Great catch! Those guys are really fast.
I would rule out a Hobo spider because its legs appear to be banded. Hobos have solid-colored legs.
ReplyDeleteHuntsman spiders can grow quite large and some species tend to have a leg arrangement much like a crab spider (i.e. the legs seem to sweep forward)
Oh, Jade -- I'm not sure I really needed to know how fast he -could- have been! I just climbed up there and covered him with my trusty half-pound deli container. In reviewing the rest of the pictures at full size, Huntsman it is. We've been using that deli container a lot; last night I deli-captured a nasty desert centipede behind the chair on which I was sitting in the living room. Scary enough, but one of the dogs had her tender pink nose about a quarter inch away from it when I saw her and yanked her backward. What a potential ouch that could have been!
ReplyDeleteI have seen FOUR of these in the past week, here in Prescott AZ!!! I've tried to identify them, but no avail- they don't have the markings of a hobo, or the leg positioning of a huntsman. They are a MYSTERY, even to some of my very best spider expert buddies!
ReplyDeleteUghghghg.... *and other babbling noises*
ReplyDeleteRemind me not to live in AZ.
As others have said, definitely not a hobo spider, which don't live in Arizona. Not that identifying spiders from pics, or from markings, is all that reliable (really, you need high magnification, like even a microscope), but it really doesn't look like anything from the Tegenaria genus anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, those "boxing glove" things are the signs of a sexually mature male! He is probably wandering around looking for love. Male spiders frequently have longer legs and a smaller abdomen than females.
It looks like a huntsman spider. This is the type of spider that was used in "Arachniphobia"
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avondale_spider
anonymous- Huntsman are a type of crab spider.
ReplyDeleteYvonne- Why don't you pack up and send me these spiders and centipedes? :)
anonymous- I'm still trying to get a few of those avondale spiders. I've heard they're quite communal and would love to do some experiments with them. I may have a better chance now that I'm in my PhD program :D
OH GOD! It's got pom pom's! *shudders in fear of spiders, and distaste of cheerleaders*
ReplyDeleteJade -- Only if I could do it without killing it (and getting arrested by the P.O. police or something). Yes, I'm a bug-hugger. Wait, that so did not sound right...
ReplyDeleteyvonne- Here's a photo how-to:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=112800&highlight=how+to+pack
As for the USPS, just ship priority from the electronic kiosk and mark it fragile and perishable. If they ask what it is, I usually tell them it's those little vinyl records (they'll melt in the heat and break if bumped too much). In ten years, I've never had a single issue.
Hit me up on Facebook if you have any more questions:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1294844019
All this talk of mailing nasties is reminding me about "Toy & Jellies".
ReplyDeleteSweet Vishnu with a side of potato salad! You are a braver woman than I. Kit: oh, now you've gone and given me arachnopompom nightmares! As if my lingering teenage fear and loathing of cheerleaders wasn't enough. Ugly overloading all over.
ReplyDeleteI found one of these suckers in my own home about a month ago.
ReplyDeleteYou have a CAMEL SPIDER, native to Arizona. Google it and these spiders will come up. They're not poisonous, just scary and nasty to look at! But they can run 10 mph and jump too!
That is a desert crab spider. They are everywhere down here in AZ.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I found one of these on our ceiling, fast, and ugly. We live in southeastern arizona. Sierra vista. During the summer especially. We see tons of them!!!
ReplyDeleteYUCK i saw one of these at patagonia in az, been trying to found out what it is ever since http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1399720003578&set=a.1399493757922.2052879.1549640435&pid=30884446&id=1549640435
ReplyDelete