![]() Let's start with some pictures of common species to help you begin to compare them all visually: Wolf Spider Wolf Spider, Hogna lenta (Photo: Wiki Commons) This makes generalizations difficult, but with the chart below I'm going to provide you with some photos and descriptions so that you can begin to narrow down your ID of those LBJs. There are many, many, many different types of wolf spiders, grass spiders, nursery web spiders etc.and there are many color variations. Nursery web spiders(specifically Pisaurina mira, no common name other than nursery web spider). Fishing spiders (like the six spotted fishing spider)ĥ. Grass spiders (specifically the common American funnel-web spider)ģ. W olf spiders(specifically Carolina wolf spider)Ģ. Not to fear though, because most often spiders (brown or otherwise) are completely harmless and they're actually eating harmful insects in your home.ġ. Brown recluse spiders build shoddy looking asymmetrical webs but they also wander around at night to hunt. They use their webs to lure prey and for hiding places. There are some exceptions, like the funnel weaving spiders that live on or near the ground and whose webs are not sticky. ![]() ![]() It's the hunting spiders that most often frighten people because they tend to crawl around in homes and houses, especially at night, where we interact with them more than the ones that build webs and just hang-out. Many of the brown spiders that we see are wandering and hunting spiders or those that live in grass and shrubs. Common grass spider (Photo: Wiki Commons).įirst, not all spiders build webs. Of course I don't have enough time to cover all the potential brown spiders that exist so I'll start with a few of the more common ones. Check out their page on " Brown Spiders" for a quick browse of the diversity out there. They also have a great guide for finding spiders by region and color. ![]() Begin with the basics of spider anatomy on their website if you need a refresher. I'm going to write mostly about the spiders common to Eastern and mid-western North America, because this is my home range, but there is some overlap with western species.Ī great starting place to learn spider ID and to become familiar with their body parts, names, and the eye placement of spiders is on the website " Spider Identification Guide." I am particularly fond of their great graphic on the 25 different eye patterns you can find on spiders (I wonder if they make this in poster form?). There are many different types of brown spiders and this blog post will help you begin to tell the difference between them. However, it is important to understand that not all brown spiders are wolf spiders. I'm often amazed at the number of times I've been outdoors with someone and when we see a brown spider immediately someone says, "Look, there's a wolf spider." I have to admit, I hate identifying "little brown jobs" or LBJs (a term we use commonly for brown sparrows when birding) because it's hard to find the fine distinctions between species, especially when the creatures are moving or you're just skeezed out by the hairy eight legged creature crawling across your floor. (Photo: Wiki commons) Knowing What is and is Not A Brown Recluse or Wolf Spider Identification Tips for Brown Spiders of the Eastern US A wolf spider carrying its egg sac.
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