House Spider - Tegenaria Domestica?

[Dave Farrance]

So this spider is on my lounge wall this morning.

Loading Image...

Just out of curiosity, I wondered which species it was, and I inferred
from Wikipedia that it's an ordinary Tegenaria Domestica?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_house_spider

However, the images on that page are a bit rubbish compared to the one
that I captured above with my £50 compact camera, so maybe I'll upload
mine to Wikipedia. Could somebody more knowledgeable tell me if I've
identified it correctly, and is it a male or a female, and how does one
tell, please?

[Malcolm]

Post by Dave Farrance
So this spider is on my lounge wall this morning.
http://i.imgur.com/rhNdt.jpg
Just out of curiosity, I wondered which species it was, and I inferred
from Wikipedia that it's an ordinary Tegenaria Domestica?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_house_spider
However, the images on that page are a bit rubbish compared to the one
that I captured above with my £50 compact camera, so maybe I'll upload
mine to Wikipedia. Could somebody more knowledgeable tell me if I've
identified it correctly, and is it a male or a female, and how does one
tell, please?

The Tegenaria species can be difficult to tell apart. The markings and
their size are helpful. And size distinguishes the sexes in some of
them. For example, yours if domestica should have a body about 10mm
long. Two others have bodies 18mm long.

Have a look at:
http://wiki.britishspiders.org.uk/index.php5?title=Tegenaria_spp.

which has links to the four species.

[Dave Farrance]

Post by Malcolm
The Tegenaria species can be difficult to tell apart. The markings and
their size are helpful. And size distinguishes the sexes in some of
them. For example, yours if domestica should have a body about 10mm
long. Two others have bodies 18mm long.
http://wiki.britishspiders.org.uk/index.php5?title=Tegenaria_spp.
which has links to the four species.

Thanks. Murphy's law says that it must split the difference and be 14mm.
The colouring looks like the Domestica pics, though.

Loading Image...

[Christina Websell]

Post by Dave Farrance
So this spider is on my lounge wall this morning.
http://i.imgur.com/rhNdt.jpg
Just out of curiosity, I wondered which species it was, and I inferred
from Wikipedia that it's an ordinary Tegenaria Domestica?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_house_spider
However, the images on that page are a bit rubbish compared to the one
that I captured above with my £50 compact camera, so maybe I'll upload
mine to Wikipedia. Could somebody more knowledgeable tell me if I've
identified it correctly, and is it a male or a female, and how does one
tell, please?

Yes, it's Tegenaria Domestica and it's a boy. You can tell the difference
between m/f by the two things that poke out from their face, in males they
have lumps on (like in your pic) these are the equivalent of testicles.
It's spider breeding season now so any TD's you have in your house will be
on the march looking for the opposite sex.

Last week I observed something interesting. Two house spiders had fallen
into my bath overnight, one very large female and a much smaller male. In
the interests of scientific research I left them there to see what would
happen- and it was really worth going without my bath that day!
After a few hours the male had inserted his paps (the lumpy bits) into her
rear orifice - from the side. It wasn't easy to see but I knew something
was happening as the female spider had her legs scrunched up instead of
having them stretched out as normal and that's why I looked closely.
Whether he approached from the side in the hope of making a quick getaway I
don't know, but it didn't work. The next time I visited the bathroom
there was his body in the tub, sucked dry by his erstwhile lover ;-)
I've never seen this before and I doubt I ever will again. It was
fascinating.
She won't get away much more easily either. Once she lays her cocoon of
eggs she won't last much longer either.
I've probably told you more than you want to know.

Tina

[unknown]

Post by Christina Websell
Yes, it's Tegenaria Domestica and it's a boy. You can tell the
difference between m/f by the two things that poke out from their
face, in males they have lumps on (like in your pic) these are the
equivalent of testicles.

I thought (without having cross-checked) that they are not like testicles in
the sense that they are secreting sperm, but are more like syringes. (But I
do not know exactly how they charge them. Lots of creatures have such
indirect injection!)

Post by Christina Websell
After a few hours the male had inserted his paps (the lumpy bits) ...

I think they are called palps (related to palpate, I suppose), which would
make them easier to look up in the literature. Paps are more of a female
(mammal) thing...

Mike.

[Christina Websell]

Post by unknown

Post by Christina Websell
Yes, it's Tegenaria Domestica and it's a boy. You can tell the
difference between m/f by the two things that poke out from their
face, in males they have lumps on (like in your pic) these are the
equivalent of testicles.

I thought (without having cross-checked) that they are not like testicles
in the sense that they are secreting sperm, but are more like syringes.
(But I do not know exactly how they charge them. Lots of creatures have
such indirect injection!)

Post by Christina Websell
After a few hours the male had inserted his paps (the lumpy bits) ...

I think they are called palps (related to palpate, I suppose), which would
make them easier to look up in the literature. Paps are more of a female
(mammal) thing...

typo.

anyway, I saw house spiders mating which is a first for me.. and yes, she
did she did eat him afterwards.
She was quite a big girl and he was smaller./
I removed two boy spiders from my bath today - they haven't been
able to find a girl spider - although they are very lucky really. They'll
just get eaten by her if they find her ;)

[Dave Farrance]

Post by Christina Websell

Post by Dave Farrance
So this spider is on my lounge wall this morning.
http://i.imgur.com/rhNdt.jpg
Just out of curiosity, I wondered which species it was, and I inferred
from Wikipedia that it's an ordinary Tegenaria Domestica?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_house_spider
However, the images on that page are a bit rubbish compared to the one
that I captured above with my £50 compact camera, so maybe I'll upload
mine to Wikipedia. Could somebody more knowledgeable tell me if I've
identified it correctly, and is it a male or a female, and how does one
tell, please?

Yes, it's Tegenaria Domestica and it's a boy. You can tell the difference
between m/f by the two things that poke out from their face, in males they
have lumps on (like in your pic) these are the equivalent of testicles.
It's spider breeding season now so any TD's you have in your house will be
on the march looking for the opposite sex.

Thanks. I've added it to the above Wikipedia article (until somebody boots
it off because they've got a better pic or thinks that the article is
image-heavy).

Post by Christina Websell
Last week I observed something interesting. Two house spiders had fallen
into my bath overnight, one very large female and a much smaller male. In
the interests of scientific research I left them there to see what would
happen- and it was really worth going without my bath that day!
After a few hours the male had inserted his paps (the lumpy bits) into her
rear orifice - from the side. It wasn't easy to see but I knew something
was happening as the female spider had her legs scrunched up instead of
having them stretched out as normal and that's why I looked closely.
Whether he approached from the side in the hope of making a quick getaway I
don't know, but it didn't work. The next time I visited the bathroom
there was his body in the tub, sucked dry by his erstwhile lover ;-)
I've never seen this before and I doubt I ever will again. It was
fascinating.
She won't get away much more easily either. Once she lays her cocoon of
eggs she won't last much longer either.
I've probably told you more than you want to know.

:-)

Mine's getting rained on somewhere at the bottom of my garden now, rather
than being in a nice warm house. I actually went to the trouble of looking
up the species because I'd got tired of carefully teasing then into cups
with a beer mat and decided that I should man-up and simply make a cage
with my hands. I'd heard that some British spiders could bite hard enough
to be irritating and sometimes even cause an allergic reaction, so I did
want to make sure that I could recognise a house spider for what it was.

[Dave Farrance]

Post by Dave Farrance
Thanks. I've added it to the above Wikipedia article (until somebody boots
it off because they've got a better pic or thinks that the article is
image-heavy).

...aaand I got a slap on the wrist. Seems it's a Tegenaria gigantea:

Loading Image...

[Malcolm]

Post by Dave Farrance

Post by Dave Farrance
Thanks. I've added it to the above Wikipedia article (until somebody boots
it off because they've got a better pic or thinks that the article is
image-heavy).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Male_tegenaria_domestica.jpg

Hmm, I have to say that I thought your photo looked closer to gigantea
than domestica, but you did seem quite sure :-)

[Michael J Davis]

Post by Malcolm

Post by Dave Farrance

Post by Dave Farrance
Thanks. I've added it to the above Wikipedia article (until somebody boots
it off because they've got a better pic or thinks that the article is
image-heavy).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Male_tegenaria_domestica.jpg

Hmm, I have to say that I thought your photo looked closer to gigantea
than domestica, but you did seem quite sure :-)

Now I've got to chase after the chap who runs round our living room
while we're watching telly. If it gets any bigger it'll set of the
burglar alarm in the middle of the night.

I've assumed it's a female tegenaria domestica, now I'm confused....

Mike

[Malcolm]

Post by Michael J Davis

Post by Malcolm

Post by Dave Farrance

Post by Dave Farrance
Thanks. I've added it to the above Wikipedia article (until somebody boots
it off because they've got a better pic or thinks that the article is
image-heavy).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Male_tegenaria_domestica.jpg

Hmm, I have to say that I thought your photo looked closer to gigantea
than domestica, but you did seem quite sure :-)

Now I've got to chase after the chap who runs round our living room
while we're watching telly. If it gets any bigger it'll set of the
burglar alarm in the middle of the night.

:-)

I don't know about burglar alarms, but spiders have been known to
interfere with the correct working of smoke detectors!

Post by Michael J Davis
I've assumed it's a female tegenaria domestica, now I'm confused....

So may it be, depending what telly you make it watch.

[unknown]

Post by Malcolm
I don't know about burglar alarms, but spiders have been known to
interfere with the correct working of smoke detectors!

And supposedly with the working of electricity meters. This was after
someone found a way to feed small spiders into the meter so they would slow
it down. (Cross between an exercise wheel and a treadmill?)

Mike.

[Christina Websell]

Post by Michael J Davis

Post by Malcolm

Post by Dave Farrance

Post by Dave Farrance
Thanks. I've added it to the above Wikipedia article (until somebody boots
it off because they've got a better pic or thinks that the article is
image-heavy).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Male_tegenaria_domestica.jpg

Hmm, I have to say that I thought your photo looked closer to gigantea
than domestica, but you did seem quite sure :-)

Now I've got to chase after the chap who runs round our living room
while we're watching telly. If it gets any bigger it'll set of the
burglar alarm in the middle of the night.
I've assumed it's a female tegenaria domestica, now I'm confused....

the girls can get very big.

It's the house spider mating season and they just fall into your bath. You
didn't know how many you had, did you?

[Christina Websell]

Post by Michael J Davis

Post by Malcolm

Post by Dave Farrance

Post by Dave Farrance
Thanks. I've added it to the above Wikipedia article (until somebody boots
it off because they've got a better pic or thinks that the article is
image-heavy).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Male_tegenaria_domestica.jpg

Hmm, I have to say that I thought your photo looked closer to gigantea
than domestica, but you did seem quite sure :-)

Now I've got to chase after the chap who runs round our living room
while we're watching telly. If it gets any bigger it'll set of the
burglar alarm in the middle of the night.
I've assumed it's a female tegenaria domestica, now I'm confused....

You know how the theory is, just put a glass over it, It was way too big
for that, my spider on the wall. I went to bed and left it, haven't see it
since.
It was BIG.