Identify me a spider

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Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,027
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Couldn't get a photo of it because it was too small for my phone camera to focus properly, but I found it while picking blueberries.

It was around 5mm long with a diamond-shaped abdomen and 2-3mm long legs. The body was light brown, but there were 2 stripes on its back running horizontally along the abdomen near the thoraco-abdominal junction. The stripes were around 1mm wide, the one closer to the head was a creamy light yellow and the one closer to the tail was black.

Help me identify this spider please
 
datalink7

datalink7

Lifer
Jan 23, 2001
16,765
6
81
Goliath Birdeater Tarantula?

Theraphosa_blondi_1.jpg
 
destrekor

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
Gah, not only is identifying a NZ spider going to be difficult by description alone, you go and confound it by using that funky measurement style. I can't visually see mm's in my mind's eye. :p

Now, what would be grand is if you could give us a better starting point: what type of spider did it most resemble? Did it seem to be a ground-dwelling, sheet-web-type? Was it a jumping spider (look them up, they share almost all visual characteristics among the many species of jumping spider)? Was it an orb-weaver? Did it look widow-like, aka like a tangle-web/cob-web spider?

Seems exceptionally small, it could be a young anything, and it's also a common jumping-spider size.
I see 5mm = 0.20"... is that head to "tail", no legs included?
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
datalink7 said:
Goliath Birdeater Tarantula?

</img>
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South America....another place not to visit.

I woke up at 2:30am the other night to a small spider wandering across my face. It got quickly brushed off, and then flicked away into either unconsciousness, or death from the head trauma. I didn't track it down to find out.

I don't want to have to keep a shotgun by the bed to deal with spiders.
I just need to remember that kind of thing whenever it's snowing outside.
"Could be worse, I could be shoveling scorpions and rattlesnakes out of the livingroom."

Edit: Oh wonderful, those birdeaters are covered with those lovely little barbed hairs, so a shotgun blast would just cause an explosion of severe skin irritation.
 
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lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,066
9,468
126
destrekor said:
nuclear weaponry required - preferably deployed from orbit.
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You couldn't even step on that. The disgusting splat would be worse than the original critter... Well, maybe not, but I still wouldn't want to deal with it :^D

Btw, 3mm is approximately 1/8". That works for very small measurements, but you'd accumulate a lot of error adding them up. I wish the US would get with the program, and go metric. I hate having to measure something, and only having a tard tape to do it with :^S
 
sandorski

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,619
6,177
126
Was it moving? Then it was Alive. The only safe spider is a non-moving Dead spider. Apply pressure, repeat as necessary.
 
destrekor

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
lxskllr said:
You couldn't even step on that. The disgusting splat would be worse than the original critter... Well, maybe not, but I still wouldn't want to deal with it :^D

Btw, 3mm is approximately 1/8". That works for very small measurements, but you'd accumulate a lot of error adding them up. I wish the US would get with the program, and go metric. I hate having to measure something, and only having a tard tape to do it with :^S
Click to expand...

Seriously, I almost refuse to kill big-fat orb weavers or tangle-web buggers of the same size, and while they aren't much often larger than a quarter, they leave a nasty splat mess.
And again, that's looking at a US quarter dollar. The tarantulas, huntsmans, etc of the world? They can have whatever territory they so claim! Perhaps a vacuum plus hose attachment would work if I found one in the home.

Huntsmans I think are far creepier than tarantulas, but the tarantulas can often fling eye-destroying hair and they have impeccable aim (to the face! from a few feet away in some cases!).

But the mess, it would be so gooey and everywhere! It would look like a scene from any number of alien hatching movies.

:shudder: I just visualized it. I definitely did not intend to ever visualize it.
 
destrekor

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
sandorski said:
Was it moving? Then it was Alive. The only safe spider is a non-moving Dead spider. Apply pressure, repeat as necessary.
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This man knows his spiders!

Regardless of appearances, they do indeed only belong to the Alive and Dead families. Also the only appropriate approach to categorizing centipedes.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
lxskllr said:
You couldn't even step on that. The disgusting splat would be worse than the original critter... Well, maybe not, but I still wouldn't want to deal with it :^D
...
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I think it would only serve to tip you off-balance, and then as you lose consciousness from smacking your head on the ground, the last thing you feel is a massive, hungry, pissed-off spider crawling onto your meat-filled leg.
 
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,066
9,468
126
Jeff7 said:
I think it would only serve to tip you off-balance, and then as you lose consciousness from smacking your head on the ground, the last thing you feel is a massive, hungry, pissed-off spider crawling onto your meat-filled leg.
Click to expand...

:shudders: D^:
 
destrekor

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
Jodell88 said:
New Zealand has 2600 spider species. F that.
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As in, "that's too many to narrow down to one specific one"
or, "that's too many types of spiders all over the place!"

I think the U.S. has like a billion. I may have slightly overestimated, but it's like a billion too many as far as I'm concerned.

But Australia and NZ has far too many nasty critters. It's not difficult to see why one was a penal colony. Beautiful vistas, but fuck the wildlife... well, :hmm: about that.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
destrekor said:
As in, "that's too many to narrow down to one specific one"
or, "that's too many types of spiders all over the place!"

I think the U.S. has like a billion. I may have slightly overestimated, but it's like a billion too many as far as I'm concerned.

But Australia and NZ has far too many nasty critters. It's not difficult to see why one was a penal colony. Beautiful vistas, but fuck the wildlife... well, :hmm: about that.
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"A dingo birthed my baby!"
 
CZroe

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
Often these guys have diamond or triangular-shaped abdomens:
Flower Spiders

Around here they are usually yellow with an A-shape on their back.

Also search for "Crab Spider"
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
I was reading through a spider identification website and found this:
OMG! What sort of spider did this to my husband? My husband saw a unique spider that we've never seen before. It was around 1cm in length, including the legs. Light brown body with a yellow and a black horizontal stripe across the abdomen. My husband was trying to photograph the spider when it leapt into the air, landing on my husband's neck. It appeared to bite him as my husband was suddenly writhing on the floor in agony. His breathing became faster and lighter until he lost consciousness. Then it looked like he was having a seizure - his entire body was going into convulsions. When the convulsions stopped, he was dead.
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So, OP, you appear to have dodged a bullet.
 
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