The hobo spider is a member of the family of spiders known colloquially as funnel web spiders, but not to be confused with the Australian funnel-web spider. Individuals construct a funnel-shaped structure of silk sheeting and lie in wait at the small end of the funnel for prey insects to blunder onto their webs. Hobo spiders sometimes build their webs in or around human habitations. The hobo spider lays its eggs in September and they hatch during late spring. After the male hobo spider mates it dies.
The Agelenidae are a large family of spiders in the suborder Araneomorphae. Well-known examples include the common "grass spiders" of the genus Agelenopsis. Nearly all Agelenidae are harmless to humans, but the bite of the hobo spider may be medically significant, and some evidence suggests it might cause necrotic lesions, but the matter remains subject to debate. The most widely accepted common name for members of the family is funnel weaver.
Tegenaria is a genus of fast-running funnel weavers that occupy much of the Northern Hemisphere except for Japan and Indonesia. It was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804, though many of its species have been moved elsewhere. The majority of these were moved to Eratigena, including the giant house spider and the hobo spider.
The spider species Tegenaria domestica, commonly known as the barn funnel weaver in North America and the domestic house spider in Europe, is a member of the funnel-web family Agelenidae.
The giant house spider has been treated as either one species, under the name Eratigena atrica, or as three species, E. atrica, E. duellica and E. saeva. As of April 2020, the three species view was accepted by the World Spider Catalog. They are among the largest spiders of Central and Northern Europe. They were previously placed in the genus Tegenaria. In 2013, they were moved to the new genus Eratigena as the single species Eratigena atrica. In 2018, the three separate species were restored. The bite of these species does not pose a threat to humans or pets, and they are generally reluctant to bite, preferring instead to hide or escape.
The rare spider species Tegenaria silvestris is mostly found in caves, or on dumps; sometimes it occurs on forest edges, or in dry forests. It constructs its web under tree trunks and dead wood, and in tree caves.
Tegenaria ferruginea or charcoal spider is a European reddish, rather common spider with rusty markings on its back. The body looks rather similar to T. parietina, however the legs are much shorter and the funnel web built lacks backdoor exit. It was transferred to Malthonica in 2005, but back to Tegenaria in 2013.
Malthonica is a genus of funnel weavers first described by Eugène Simon in 1898. Many of its species were transferred to Aterigena and Tegenaria in 2010.
The book Svenska Spindlar or Aranei Svecici is one of the major works of the Swedish arachnologist and entomologist Carl Alexander Clerck and was first published in Stockholm in the year 1757. It was the first comprehensive book on the spiders of Sweden and one of the first regional monographs of a group of animals worldwide. The full title of the work is Svenska Spindlar uti sina hufvud-slägter indelte samt under några och sextio särskildte arter beskrefne och med illuminerade figurer uplyste – Aranei Svecici, descriptionibus et figuris æneis illustrati, ad genera subalterna redacti, speciebus ultra LX determinati, and included 162 pages of text and six colour plates. It was published in Swedish, with a Latin translation printed in a slightly smaller font below the Swedish text.
Histopona is a genus of funnel weavers first described as a sub-genus of Hadites by Tamerlan Thorell in 1870. It was elevated to genus by Brignoli in 1972.
Eratigena is a genus of spider in the family Agelenidae. Most of its species were moved from the genus Tegenaria in 2013, which is what the genus name is an anagram of. Two species that frequently build webs in and around human dwellings are now placed in this genus: the hobo spider, native to Europe and Central Asia and introduced to North America, and the giant house spider, native to Europe and also introduced into North America.
Aterigena is a genus of funnel weavers first described by A. Bolzern, A. Hänggi & D. Burckhardt in 2010. The name is an anagram of Tegenaria. It was created in 2010 for a group of Tegenaria and Malthonica species that formed a clade in a phylogenetic analysis. The genus was later found to be monophyletic, further separating Eratigena from Tegenaria and Malthonica.
Agelenella is a genus of Asian funnel weavers containing the single species, Agelenella pusilla. It was first described by Pekka T. Lehtinen in 1967, and has only been found in Yemen.
Alireza Zamani is an Iranian arachnologist and taxonomist.
Plexippus wesolowskae is a species of jumping spider in the genus Plexippus that lives in Bangladesh. It was first described in 1998 by V. Biswas and D. Raychaudhuri. The spider is medium-sized, with a carapace 3.4 mm (0.13 in) and an abdomen 3.2 mm (0.13 in) long. The carapace is dark brown with a black band and white cross. The abdomen is a lighter brown with one white and two black stripes. It is similar to the related Plexippus paykulli that can also be found in the same country, but can be distinguished by features like the elongated almost vase-like shape of the sternum and lack of tibial apophysis on the palpal bulb.
Eratigena duellica, the giant house spider, is a species of funnel weaver in the spider family Agelenidae. It is found in Canada, the United States, and Europe. The related species Eratigena atrica is also called the giant house spider.
Agelena oaklandensis is a species of spider in the family Agelenidae, which contains at least 1,350 species as of August 2021. It was first described by Manoranjan Barman in 1979 and is native to India.
Tegenaria comstocki is a species of funnel weaver in the family Agelenidae. It is first published in " (2004). Spiders of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Rec. zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap. "
Yuri Mikhailovitch Marusik is a Russian arachnologist.
