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Grey House (Badumna longinqua)

Grey house spider of the intertidal (Desidae) family is indigenous to eastern Australia. It also occupies parts of the United States, New Zealand, Uruguay, Japan, and Mexico.

Grey House Spider

Scientific Classification

Physical Description and Identification

Adults

Size: Females are around 0.59 inches (1.4 cm), and males are smaller, with a length of 0.43 inches (1.0 cm).

Color: Their abdomen and cephalothorax have light gray hairs and markings that resemble tiny spots, while their legs appear purplish-brown.

Other Characteristic Features: They have small eyes, and the pair at the front appear larger than the surrounding ones. Other prominent features include an oval-shaped abdomen and hairy stripes on each leg.

Grey House Spider Size

Eggs

The pale white eggs remain safely enclose within the silken sac.

Spiderlings

The spiderlings are a replica of their parents, and most of them disperse upon maturation through ballooning.

The Web

The grey house spider makes webs in isolated places like a crack on the wall or a crevice, using them as a trap for their prey. Once a prey falls into the web, the spider injects venom, liquefy their body, and eats them up.

Grey House Spider Web

Are Grey House Spiders Venomous

Though venomous, their bites are not harmful to humans.

Quick Facts

Other Name Gray spider
Distribution Eastern Australia,  New Zealand, South America, Uruguay, United States, Japan, Germany, Brazil, and Argentina
Habitat Wetlands, riparian forests, and grasslands. On leaves, rocks, walls, and tree trunks
Web Type Ladder like webs
Diet Moths, ants, bees, jumping plant lice, wasps, cicadas, and bumblebees
Lifespan 1-2 years (estimated)
Predators White-tailed spiders, long-bodied cellar spiders, New Zealand Short-tailed birds, flies, and parasitic wasps
IUCN Conservation Status Not listed

Did You Know

  • German arachnologist and entomologist Ludwig Carl Christian Koch described this species for the first time in 1867.

Grey house spider of the intertidal (Desidae) family is indigenous to eastern Australia. It also occupies parts of the United States, New Zealand, Uruguay, Japan, and Mexico.

Grey House Spider

Physical Description and Identification

Adults

Size: Females are around 0.59 inches (1.4 cm), and males are smaller, with a length of 0.43 inches (1.0 cm).

Color: Their abdomen and cephalothorax have light gray hairs and markings that resemble tiny spots, while their legs appear purplish-brown.

Other Characteristic Features: They have small eyes, and the pair at the front appear larger than the surrounding ones. Other prominent features include an oval-shaped abdomen and hairy stripes on each leg.

Grey House Spider Size

Eggs

The pale white eggs remain safely enclose within the silken sac.

Spiderlings

The spiderlings are a replica of their parents, and most of them disperse upon maturation through ballooning.

The Web

The grey house spider makes webs in isolated places like a crack on the wall or a crevice, using them as a trap for their prey. Once a prey falls into the web, the spider injects venom, liquefy their body, and eats them up.

Grey House Spider Web

Are Grey House Spiders Venomous

Though venomous, their bites are not harmful to humans.

Quick Facts

Other Name Gray spider
Distribution Eastern Australia,  New Zealand, South America, Uruguay, United States, Japan, Germany, Brazil, and Argentina
Habitat Wetlands, riparian forests, and grasslands. On leaves, rocks, walls, and tree trunks
Web Type Ladder like webs
Diet Moths, ants, bees, jumping plant lice, wasps, cicadas, and bumblebees
Lifespan 1-2 years (estimated)
Predators White-tailed spiders, long-bodied cellar spiders, New Zealand Short-tailed birds, flies, and parasitic wasps
IUCN Conservation Status Not listed

Did You Know

  • German arachnologist and entomologist Ludwig Carl Christian Koch described this species for the first time in 1867.

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