Spiders in Chile

What spiders live in Chile?

Chile is a long, narrow country walled off by the Andes and the Atacama, and that isolation shows in its wildlife. The spider fauna is temperate rather than tropical: a Mediterranean core in the central valley, fog oases in the north, Valdivian rainforest in the south, and steppe and ice at the far end. Tropical groups that dominate Brazil or Colombia barely reach it: there are no wandering spiders of the genus Phoneutria and no funnel-webs anywhere in the country.

What Chile does have is a set of household and field species. The Chilean recluse lives behind furniture in older houses and widow spiders hold field margins and stone walls. Introduced cobweb spiders such as the false black widow and the triangulate cobweb occupy sheds and skirting boards, the woodlouse spider hunts isopods under paving slabs, and the banded garden spider strings wheel webs in sunny gardens. In the matorral, the rose hair tarantula is the country's largest spider.

Chile's two medically significant spiders

The Chilean recluse

Named the rincon or corner spider for the place it hides, Loxosceles laeta is the most dangerous recluse anywhere in the world and is genuinely common inside Chilean homes. It is small and soft, sandy to dark brown, with long unmarked legs, six eyes in three pairs rather than eight, and a darker violin shape on the front body. Almost all bites happen when a spider trapped in clothing or bedding is pressed against skin.

The bite is often painless at first. Over the next six to twelve hours it becomes intensely painful and develops pale, red and dark mottling that can break down into an ulcer taking weeks to heal. A minority of cases, more common in children, develop the viscerocutaneous form: the venom destroys red blood cells, causing fever, dark urine, jaundice and possible kidney failure within a day. That form is a medical emergency.

Black widows

Chilean black widows, Latrodectus mactans, live in wheat stubble, dry stone walls and irrigation channels in the central valley, and were once a hazard of the harvest. The female is glossy black with a red hourglass beneath. Her bite gives a sharp pinprick, then cramping muscle pain that spreads to the abdomen and back, with sweating, high blood pressure and agitation. It is frightening rather than usually fatal in adults, and responds well to treatment.

Where you meet them in Chile

Inside the house

The recluse is a true indoor animal in Chile, which is what makes it dangerous: it lives behind wardrobes, under beds, inside stored shoes and in cardboard boxes, and it comes out at night. Sharing those rooms are harmless synanthropes: the common house spider, long-bodied cellar spiders in bathrooms, the red house spider in the warm north, and Steatoda in sheds and garages. Our guide to house spiders covers this group.

Gardens, vineyards and field margins

Argiope orb-weavers build wheel webs with a zigzag silk band across sunny gardens and vine rows from midsummer. Wolf spiders work the bare soil of orchards, and the woodlouse spider sits under slabs. Widows favour the untidy margins: stone piles, ditch banks and stacked timber.

Matorral, desert and southern forest

The central matorral is home to the rose hair tarantula, a slow burrower whose males walk in the open in late summer looking for females. Northern fog oases hold specialised desert spiders, and the wet southern forests an old, endemic fauna of litter and moss spiders. Patagonia holds few species and none of medical importance.

Chile's spider season

The seasons here mirror the northern hemisphere. Activity builds from October, peaks through the hot, dry summer from December to March, and falls away as the central valley turns cold and wet from May. That is when orb webs are largest, when male tarantulas cross roads at dusk, and when widows turn up during harvest work.

Recluse bites cluster in the warm months, and around two moments: dressing in clothes left on the floor or unused for weeks, and spring cleaning, when long-untouched wardrobes and boxes are moved. Winter only slows the spider, because heated interiors keep it going year-round.

Look-alikes and species that do not live in Chile

Several names on Chilean spider lists need correcting. The spinybacked orbweaver is a tropical American spider and not part of Chile's fauna; hard-bodied orb-weavers seen here belong to other genera. Lyssomanes, the translucent green jumpers, are likewise tropical forest animals, so a green jumper in Santiago is another salticid. The gray wall jumping spider and the noble false widow are genuine records, but both are introductions around warm coastal towns.

Calling the pantropical huntsman Chile's largest spider is also wrong: it is a warm-climate tramp species that turns up in imported cargo in the north, and huntsman spiders are not medically significant anywhere. Chile's biggest spiders are its tarantulas.

Among genuine residents, two confusions matter. Steatoda species are killed as black widows: they are dull brown to plum, often with a pale crescent at the front of the abdomen, and lack the red hourglass. And every small brown house spider is suspected of being a recluse; the tests that count are six eyes in three pairs, unmarked legs, and a flimsy sheet of silk rather than a patterned web.

Common Spiders in Chile

• Common House Spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum)
• Long-bodied Cellar Spider (Pholcus phalangioides)

Biggest Spiders in Chile

• Pantropical Huntsman Spider (Heteropoda venatoria)

Most Venomous Spiders in Chile

Cobweb Spiders/Tangle Web Spiders (Theridiidae)

Cobweb SpidersWidow (Latrodectus)A guide to the widow spiders (Latrodectus): how to identify the genus, the species you may meet, the gumfoot web, and how serious a widow biCobweb SpidersFalse Widow (Steatoda nobilis)Identify the noble false widow (Steatoda nobilis): cream markings, reddish legs, its tangle web, where it lives and how painful its bite reaCobweb SpidersBrown Widow (Latrodectus geometricus)Identify the brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus) by its orange hourglass and spiky egg sac, and learn how its bite compares with a black wCobweb SpidersFalse Black Widow (Steatoda grossa)Identify the false black widow (Steatoda grossa): size, colour, its gumfoot cobweb, how it differs from a true widow, and how bad the bite r

Sicariidae

Sicariidae SpidersChilean Recluse (Loxosceles laeta)Identify the Chilean recluse (Loxosceles laeta): size, six eyes, faint violin, where it lives, and why its bite causes more systemic loxosce

Less Venomous Spiders in Chile

Cobweb Spiders/Tangle Web Spiders (Theridiidae)

Cobweb SpidersRed House (Nesticodes rufipes)Identify the red house spider (Nesticodes rufipes): rusty red body, tangled indoor web, why it is mistaken for a widow, and what its bite acCobweb SpidersTriangulate Cobweb (Steatoda triangulosa)Identify the triangulate cobweb spider (Steatoda triangulosa): the purple zigzag pattern, yellow legs, its tangle web, and whether the bite

Orb Weavers (Araneidae)

Orb WeaversBanded Garden (Argiope trifasciata)Identify the banded garden spider (Argiope trifasciata): silver banding, size, the zigzag in its web, egg sac, range, and whether its bite iOrb WeaversSpinybacked Orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis)Spinybacked orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis) identification: six abdominal spines, colour forms, the silk-tufted web, range and whethe

Tarantulas - Theraphosidae

Orb WeaversSpinybacked Orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis)Spinybacked orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis) identification: six abdominal spines, colour forms, the silk-tufted web, range and whetheTarantulasRose Hair Tarantula (Grammostola rosea)Identify the rose hair tarantula (Grammostola rosea): size, pink sheen, urticating hairs, its Chilean scrub habitat, and how dangerous its b

Jumping Spiders

Jumping SpidersGray Wall Jumping (Menemerus bivittatus)Identify the gray wall jumping spider (Menemerus bivittatus): size, the flattened grey-haired body, its walls-and-tree-trunks habitat, and wJumping SpidersLyssomanesA guide to Lyssomanes, the translucent green jumping spiders of the Americas: how to identify them, where they live, what they hunt and whet

Woodlouse Hunter (Dysderidae)

Woodlouse Hunter SpidersWoodlouse (Dysdera crocata)Identify the woodlouse spider (Dysdera crocata): dark red body, six eyes, oversized fangs, where it lives, what it hunts and how bad its bit

Living with spiders in Chile

Routine housekeeping matters more here than almost anywhere, because the recluse is worth actively excluding from bedrooms. These measures are the ones Chilean public-health advice has promoted for decades.

• Shake out clothes, towels and shoes, and never leave clothing on the floor overnight.
• Move beds away from walls and do not store boxes under the bed.
• Vacuum behind furniture, inside wardrobes and along skirting boards, and empty the vacuum outside.
• Wear gloves and long sleeves when clearing sheds, stored timber, cardboard and machinery, where both recluses and widows sit.
• Seal gaps around window frames, doors and pipe runs, and repair torn screens.
• Leave garden orb webs alone. They eat the flies and moths that would otherwise come indoors.

On the other side of the Andes, Argentina has recluses joined by wandering spiders that Chile does not have, and our round-up of the most venomous spiders explains where Loxosceles laeta ranks worldwide.