Arachnology

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Need help identifying spider (MI, USA) (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago by JonHammCock to c/[email protected]

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We just moved to Michigan and these are all around the property (including the basement). Just want to know if it's something I need to be concerned about. Google lens is inconclusive, at least with my non-existent knowledge.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It looks like an orb weaver. They eat pests and are generally beneficial. The US only has 3 dangerous spiders. The black widow, the brown widow, and the brown recluse. That isn't any of those.

[–] JonHammCock 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Interesting. Google (AI?) says they're pretty big, right? This guy was about 1.5cm. Does that align?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Orb weaver is a classification of spiders that includes about 3,000 species, they vary significantly in size. If it makes a "classic" spider web with long strands connected in a circular pattern then it is an orb weaver.

[–] JonHammCock 3 points 3 months ago

Its web seemed sort of haphazard with strands going in various directions. I definitely didn't identify a web as you described it. That said, as I've alluded to, take my insight with a grain of salt. Thanks for the ID regardless!

[–] pennomi 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I believe the hobo spider is also dangerous and lives in the United States.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hobo spiders are in the US but they aren't dangerous. They are funnel web spiders and some funnel webs, especially in Australia, are extremely dangerous which gives Hobos an undeserved reputation.

[–] pennomi 2 points 3 months ago

The CDC reported case studies in the 1990s claiming that the hobo spider bite caused isolated cases of necrosis in people,[12][13] but as of 2017, the CDC no longer lists the hobo spider among venomous species.[3] In Canada, there is no evidence that hobo spider bites cause skin necrosis.[4] Some bites reportedly from the closely related desert grass spider, Agelenopsis aperta, may have been inaccurately reported and may have actually been from the hobo spider.[14]

Well that’s interesting, thank you for the correction.