Nursery Web Spiders

Nursery web or pisauridae is a family of predator spiders. There are total 508 species in 51 genera under this. The female spider often eats the male after their copulation. The family has got the name because of the nature of female spiders, who protects the eggs with a security web.

Spiders Belonging to this Family

Physical Description and Identification

Adults

Size: Adult spiders can be around 0.59 in (1.4 cm). This includes the length of their legs. Females are always bigger than male spiders.

Color: The color of each species is different and the predominant shades are brown, white, black, and gray.

Other Characteristic Features: Female nursery web spiders have a dark stripe running down from its head to abdomen. In male spiders, the stripe is pale.

Eggs

Eggs are laid inside a silken sac that is further secured by a nursery web. The sac is kept hidden in leaf litters for protection.

Spiderlings

After their hatching, the spiderlings stay at the nursery web for around a week before scattering away.

The Web

The spiders of this family do not make any web for entrapping preys.

Are Nursery Web Spiders Venomous

The spiders do not bother attacking humans without any reason. Only female spiders are immensely protective of their egg, so during that time if they encounter any threat, they can bite. It can be painful but not harmful.

Quick Facts

Did You Know

• The male nursery web spider offers a prey wrapped in silk as a gift to the female spider, to impress her for mating. Sometimes, the male spider deceives the female by wrapping leaves and not any insect. If detected, the female spider rejects mating.