Southern house spider
| Southern house spider | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Suborder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Filistatidae |
| Genus: | Kukulcania |
| Species: | K. hibernalis |
| Binomial name | |
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Kukulcania hibernalis (Hentz, 1842) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Filistata hibernalis |
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Filistata hibernalis
Filistata capitata
Teratodes depressus
Filistata cubaecola
Filistata distincta
Filistata depressa
Mygale muritelaria
Filistata tractans
Filistata capito
The Southern house spider (Kukulcania hibernalis) is a species of large spider from the Americas which exhibit strong sexual dimorphism. They occur in Southern North American states of USA, throughout Central America and some Caribbean to Southern Brazil and Uruguay. The males may be mistaken for brown recluses because the two have similar coloration and body structure. However, compared to the brown recluse, male southern house spiders are typically larger in size, lack the distinctive violin shape on their cephalothorax, and have unusually long slender pedipalps. The females are dark brown or black and more compact. Both sexes may grow to be roughly 2 inches (5.1 cm) across (legs extended), with the males typically having longer legs, and the females often having larger, bulbous bodies. The abdomen of the southern house spider is covered with fine velvety light gray hair.
Female southern house spiders are rarely seen, as they build radial webs around crevices, for which reason their family (Filistatidae) is called crevice weavers. Females seldom move except to capture prey caught in their webs. Males, on the other hand, typically wander in search of insects and females to mate with, having no particular territory.
The southern house spider is a cribellate spider. That is, its spinnerets do not produce adhesive webbing. Instead, to capture prey the spider uses its legs to comb webbing across its cribellum, a spiked plate near the spinnerets. This combing action frays and tangles the strands, producing a fine, velcro-like netting that ensnares insect legs.
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Wikipedia