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.
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.
The pale white eggs remain safely enclose within the silken sac.
The spiderlings are a replica of their parents, and most of them disperse upon maturation through ballooning.
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.
Though venomous, their bites are not harmful to humans.
| 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 |
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.
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.
The pale white eggs remain safely enclose within the silken sac.
The spiderlings are a replica of their parents, and most of them disperse upon maturation through ballooning.
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.
Though venomous, their bites are not harmful to humans.
| 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 |
