What kind of spider

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Jool
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What kind of spider

Postby Jool » Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:42 pm

Cannot find it on google, looks like a crab spider but has a web and wraps up its food as per normal spider...

Large black and white, body like a shell with fading black lines on it.......about 3 inches wide with legs bent, long legs with last half inch red claw type tips......

Any ideas? Took photo but don´t think it came up very well and don´t know how to upload those on here anyway.......

wildside
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby wildside » Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:28 pm

Hi,

You can email me the picture if you like. Pm me

Paula
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby Paula » Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:35 pm

I'd be interested if you find out what this spider is! Had one that seems same/similar on our terrace. It was a big fat stripey thing! So big I thought it was a frog! OH wasn't too keen on shifting it :lol: He got a long stick to try to encourage it to move away, and it wrapped it's legs around it :lol: So he shook the stick over the wall and it was so heavy we heard it dropping through the bush!
Never seen one since I'm pleased to say!

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Re: What kind of spider

Postby wildside » Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:59 pm

Well, thinking on it the lobed argiope is black and white a bit crab spider like... Beautiful and harmless though I agree spiders to cause an uncontrollable urge in many people to bat em with a newspaper....

Image

Above is the front and back view of the same spider... Note the "stitching" in the web, this is a trademark of this species and no one knows why it does it...

There are a few of the bigger spiders here in Andalucia and I have images of most of them so they should be easy enough to identify for any of you who are less squeamish... I have one that I cannot resist to post in a moment on a message of it's own just for the impact :)

wildside
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby wildside » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:03 pm

A pint of spider please barman! :) (Yes it's a real pint glass)

Image
Last edited by wildside on Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Paula
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby Paula » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:05 pm

The one we had was not that one. It may not have even been black stripes but I remember it was colourful, big bulbous body and fat legs!! Not like spider legs at all.
Wildside if you had hit this one with a newspaper it would have taken an hour to clean up :lol:
I can usually ignore spiders and wait for OH to move them on, sometimes a problem if I find one in the bedroom and he isn't in Spain!

Just seen your pic, thats the sort of size this one was, but the legs were fatter.

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patricia
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby patricia » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:09 pm

Paula your one sounds like it was a Terantula, they are black and/or with red and or they can be brownish in colour I dont know what the other one is, the only one I can find with white in it is a Wolf Spider but they dont use webs!

Yes it would be interesting to find out the name of the spider so do let us know :D
Torrox Costa "El mejor clima de Europa"

wildside
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby wildside » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:10 pm

The "tarantula" here in Andalucia is not really a tarantula but is called a "burrowing tarantula" See in the picture the nest surrounded by twigs that the female makes... Down in the hole she moves her egg sac up and down the tunnel to regulate it's temperature... I got this one out for the photo with a dead fly on a piece of cotton... otherwise they generally stay in the tunnel during this time of year... You will see them out and about at other times of year though..... The scientific name fo this one is Lycosa tarentula

Image

wildside
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby wildside » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:37 pm

Hi,

Another spider that people often refer to as "tarantulas" are the Andalucian funnel web spiders which are utterly fascinating if a bit scary..... :)

Image

I have written an extensive description with more images on these great spiders but it's on my website so I can't put the link... PM me if you want the web direction.... Taster below...
In Andalucia there lives a fairly large, black burrowing spider belonging to the venomous funnel-web tarantula family. Its scientific name is Macrothele calpeiana and it belongs to the Hexathelidae group which is normally associated with Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Central Africa and South America. There is one species known for the Mediterranean region. (Walckenaer, 1805). The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek makro meaning big and thele which refers to the spinnerets. The origin of the name calpeiana is from “Calpe” a name that the Phoenicians gave to Gibraltar.
Looking forward to seeing the picture from Jool no matter how good or bad it is... :)

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Re: What kind of spider

Postby Paula » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:48 pm

I've got the shivers now :lol:

Wildside how big would that burrowing tarantula be? That looks most like the one we had. It's body was at least 1.5" in diameter. It wasn't in a web it was sitting in a corner of the terrace. I've never seen such a big spider, we slept with all the windows closed for a week :lol:

Jool
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby Jool » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:57 pm

Wildside - you are a genius, it is the
lobed argiope
the stitching cinched it.....it looks like cotton on the web....ours is a fair bit larger than the one in your photo though......

Thank you everyone - what a fast response!

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Re: What kind of spider

Postby Paula » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:13 pm

Mine's bigger than yoouurrss!! :lol:

El Cid
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby El Cid » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:15 pm

wildside wrote: I have written an extensive description with more images on these great spiders but it's on my website so I can't put the link.
You cant but I can!

http://tinyurl.com/mz4ser

Sid

wildside
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby wildside » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:19 pm

That's good to get an id Jool, glad to help.... There are a couple of other argiopes here but my favourite is this one

Image

and the babies when they hatched

Image

Paula, the burrowing tarantulas are quite big with bodies around the size of a 50cent piece.. They have quite long legs as well...
The view you mostly get of them is this one....
Image

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Re: What kind of spider

Postby Paula » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:40 pm

To be honest I don't remember it having very long legs, I thought they were fat shortish ones! But really after spotting it I didn't hang around too long observing.

crazyred
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby crazyred » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:59 pm

Great pictures. We haven't seen anything as interesting as these unfortunately...

I like spiders, they eat mozzies & flies so they're OK with me!!

wildside
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby wildside » Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:23 pm

Hi Crazyred, some of the biggest Andalucian funnel webs I ever found were in the Sabinillas area :)

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Re: What kind of spider

Postby crazyred » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:22 pm

Cool, where do we look???

wildside
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby wildside » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:48 pm

At this time of year the females have created their webs on the ground to protect the temperature of their egg sacs... (look at the link El Cid kindly posted)....

Any bit of rough campo around your way with rocks on the ground, old abandoned building sites will produce funnel webs... Do you know the road that goes inland along the Padron river just past the Kempinski hotel towards Marbella from Estepona? That river is the jewel of the area and turns up some amazing wildlife including loads of funnel webs.... (I once saw a mass hatching of dragonflies there and estimated them in their tens of thousands...)

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patricia
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Re: What kind of spider

Postby patricia » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:22 am

Thats fascinating wildside wonderful photographs and keep them coming snakes the lot (if I cannot pick up your web I shall pm you for it) It is interesting to note though that the term terantula is Spanish named after the town Taranto where they are found and the spider who is the real terantula is the Wolf Spider - Lycosa Tarantula. In fact there is a dance named after it called the tarantella! which was believed to get rid of the symptoms if people were bitten by one. However they are not dangerous to humans their bite apparently is similar to that of a wasp should you be unlucky enough to be nipped. However worldwide all large spiders are now referred to as Terantula´s :D
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