Spiders in Illinois

Illinois has over 500 spider species out of which only 30 to 35 of them are seen on a regular basis. The brown recluse and the northern black widow stand among the deadliest of the lot. In fact, the brown recluse inhabits the whole of northern and southern Illinois.

Common spiders: Brown Recluse (Loxosceles reclusa), Orchard Orb-weaver (Leucauge venusta), Tan Jumping (Platycryptus undatus)

Largest spiders: Family of Wolf (Lycosidae) and Fishing (Dolomedes) spiders

Highly Venomous Spiders

Cobweb (Theridiidae)

• Northern Black Widow (Latrodectus variolus)

Sicariidae

• Brown Recluse (Loxosceles reclusa)

Less Venomous Spiders

Orb-weaver (Araneidae)

• Orchard Orb-weaver (Leucauge venusta)
• Furrow Orb-weaver (Larinioides cornutus)
• Hentz Orb-weaver (Neoscona crucifera)
• Bridge Orb-weaver (Larinioides sclopetarius)
• Marbled Orb-weaver (Araneus marmoreus)
• Arabesque Orb-weaver (Neoscona arabesca)
• Shamrock Orb-weaver (Araneus trifolium)
• Banded Garden (Argiope trifasciata)
• Yellow Garden (Argiope aurantia)

Jumping (Salticidae)

• Bold Jumper (Phidippus audax)
• Tan Jumping (Platycryptus undatus)
• Zebra Jumper (Salticus scenicus)

Cobweb (Theridiidae)

• Steatoda borealis
• Common House (Parasteatoda tepidariorum)
• Triangulate Cobweb (Steatoda triangulosa)

Nursery Web (Pisauridae)

• White-banded Fishing (Dolomedes albineus)
• Dark Fishing (Dolomedes tenebrosus)

Crab (Thomisidae)

• White-banded Crab (Misumenoides formosipes)
• American Green Crab (Misumessus oblongus)

Spitting (Scytodidae)

• Scytodes thoracica

Wolf (Lycosidae)

• Tigrosa georgicola
• Tigrosa helluo
• Rustic Wolf (Trochosa ruricola)