Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae, so named for their robust and agile hunting skills and excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and usually do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon prey as they find it or chasing it over short distances; others wait for passing prey in or near the mouth of a burrow.
Huntsman spiders, members of the family Sparassidae, are known by this name because of their speed and mode of hunting. They are also called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance. Larger species sometimes are referred to as wood spiders, because of their preference for woody places. In southern Africa the genus Palystes are known as rain spiders or lizard-eating spiders. Commonly, they are confused with baboon spiders from the Mygalomorphae infraorder, which are not closely related.
Latrodectus is a broadly distributed genus of spiders with several species that are commonly known as the true widows. This group is composed of those often loosely called black widow spiders, brown widow spiders, and similar spiders. However, the diversity of species is much greater. A member of the family Theridiidae, this genus contains 34 species, which include several North American "black widows". Besides these, North America also has the red widow Latrodectus bishopi and the brown widow Latrodectus geometricus, which, in addition to North America, has a much wider geographic distribution. Elsewhere, others include the European black widow, the Australian redback spider and the closely related New Zealand katipō, several different species in Southern Africa that can be called button spiders, and the South American black-widow spiders. Species vary widely in size. In most cases, the females are dark-coloured and can be readily identified by reddish markings on the central underside (ventral) abdomen, which are often hourglass-shaped.
Orb-weaver spiders are members of the spider family Araneidae. They are the most common group of builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields, and forests. The English word "orb" can mean "circular", hence the English name of the group. Araneids have eight similar eyes, hairy or spiny legs, and no stridulating organs.
Attulus pubescens is a species of jumping spiders. Until 2017, it was known as Sitticus pubescens.
Attulus is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1889. The name is a diminutive form of a common prefix for salticid genera, -attus.
Phidippus johnsoni, the red-backed jumping spider or Johnson jumping spider, is one of the largest and most commonly encountered jumping spiders of western North America. It is not to be confused with the unrelated and highly venomous redback spider.
Plexippus paykulli is a species of jumping spider. It is native to south east Asia but has spread to other parts of the world and globe. In the United States it is called the pantropical jumping spider. It is usually associated with buildings and may be found near light sources catching insects attracted by the light. It is named in honor of Gustaf von Paykull.
Thelacantha is a genus of orb-weaver spiders containing the single species, Thelacantha brevispina. It was first described by A. W. M. van Hasselt in 1882, and has been found in Australia, Madagascar, and across southern Asia from India to Philippines, including Japan. It has also been introduced into Hawaii. T. brevispina is closely related those in the genus Gasteracantha, and was briefly synonymized with it in 1859, but revalidated in 1974. Saito described three other Thelacantha species in 1933, which were later synonymized with T. brevispina.
Attulus distinguendus, also called the distinguished jumper spider, is a species of spider in the family Salticidae, the jumping spiders. Until 2017, it was placed in the genus Sitticus. It inhabits central and western Europe, the Palaearctic region, and eastern Asia.
Attulus caricis is a species of spider in the family Salticidae. It has a Palearctic distribution, including Britain. Until 2017, it was placed in the genus Sitticus.
Attulus saltator is a species of jumping spider, from the Sitticinae subfamily. It was first described by Frederick Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1868 and has a Palearctic distribution, including Great Britain.
Attulus inexpectus is a species of spider from family Salticidae, found in from Europe to central Asia. It was previously misidentified as Attulus rupicola.
Attulus floricola is a species of jumping spider with a Palearctic distribution. They are typically 4–4.5 millimetres (0.16–0.18 in) in length. Females are dark reddish brown, with an almost black anterior.
Attinella dorsata is a species of jumping spider found in the United States and Mexico.
Menemerus nigli is a species of jumping spider in the genus Menemerus that originates in Asia. The male was identified in 2012 by Wanda Wesołowska and Mario Freudenschuss, and the female by Pir Asmat Ali, Wayne Maddison. Muhammad Zahid and Abida Buttin in 2018. The spider is medium-sized, typically 4.89 millimetres (0.193 in) in length, with a dark brown carapace and grey-brown abdomen that has a distinctive cream and white pattern created by small hairs. It was originally found in India, Pakistan and Thailand but was also found to have been introduced into Latin America, the first specimens being identified in Brazil in 2020. It seems to thrive amongst the sunlit stucco walls that are common in cities across the region. Menemerus nigli is used as an example of the ability of species that adapt to human habitation to expand their ecological niche and become global species.
Attulus penicilloides is a jumping spider species that lives in North Korea. The female was first described by Wanda Wesołowska in 1993 and named Sitticus penicilloides in the genus Sitticus but was moved to the genus Attulus in 2017.
Pellenes brevis is a species of jumping spider in the genus Pellenes. Initially named Attus brevis, the species was first identified in 1878 in France and Spain. It has subsequently been found in many countries in southern Europe and western Asia from Portugal to Iran. The spider is very dark brown or black, with a distinctive white semi-circle marking on the abdomen. The female is larger than the male, measuring up to 5.3 millimetres (0.21 in) in length. It lays its eggs in snail shells.
The Sitticini are a tribe of spiders in the family Salticidae. The tribe has been divided into two subtribes, Aillutticina, with five Neotropical genera, and Sitticina, with five genera from Eurasia and the Americas. One genus is unplaced within the tribe. The taxonomy of the tribe has been subject to considerable uncertainty. It was clarified in 2020.
Evarcha michailovi is a species of jumping spider in the genus Evarcha that lives in Europe and Asia. It thrives in dry grassland and heath but has also been found in areas of human habitation, including a railway station. The species was first described in 1992 by Dmitri Logunov. It has a brown to dark carapace that measures between 2.08 and 2.75 mm in length that, in some examples, has light stripes running down its sides. Its black eye field is marked by a white stripe. It has an orange hairy clypeus, or face. It has an abdomen that is between 1.88 and 3.13 mm long, the female being generally larger than the male, but there is a wide variation in the pattern across different specimens. The markings on the carapace helps distinguish the species from others in the genus, as does the species distribution. The copulatory organs are unique, particularly the male embolus and the female epigyne.
