The spitting spider doesn't build a web to catch food. Instead, it squirts sticky, venom-laced silk from its jaws in a zigzag, gluing prey to the spot before it moves in to bite. In the United States it is a small, introduced house spider whose fangs are too small to pierce human skin.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 0.16–0.28 in (4–7 mm) long, females a little larger than males. The pale yellowish body has black speckles, and the domed rises toward the back. The thin legs are banded with black. It has six eyes instead of the usual eight.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Houses
- Basements
- Closets
- Range
- Native to Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia, including Korea and Japan. It has spread with people to North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
- Preferred conditions
- Indoors it hides in dark corners, cellars, cupboards, and closets.
Behavior
- Diet
- Moths, flies, other spiders, and other small household insects.
- Activity
- A slow nighttime wanderer. It feels its way toward prey with its front legs, stops about 3/8 in (1 cm) away, and spits two glue threads that land in overlapping zigzag bands. Then it bites, wraps the meal in silk, and feeds.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- A female lays 20–35 eggs in a silk cocoon and carries it under her body or in her jaws. She can make 2–3 cocoons a year.
- Incubation
- Eggs hatch in 2–3 weeks, and the young stay with their mother until their first .
- Lifespan
- Males live about 1.5–2 years and females 2–4 years.
Cautions
- Cautions
- It is venomous, but its fangs are too small to pierce human skin.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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