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Dear Thomas,

This is a Flower Crab Spider (Misumena vatia), almost certainly an immature this time of year. The species is widespread in the southern half of England and Wales. Mature females can change their colour from white to yellow and back again, depending on their background. They lurk on flowers and grab insects that come to feed.

Geoff

Found in my car SO32 Netley Abbey. Quite aggressive.https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222673670165407&set=a.1070861606767&__cft__[0]=AZUkJCgkixal6x_FYe7a7HotEdTcSgNhyNF4udfsLAoIew5vAtvMDh1YdTrDRVo1riJ1iFlCcsbohA79zngirF5of9QyhIequTD-LY8y54nIHA&__tn__=EH-R 

This is a Zoropsis species, and will be Zoropsis spinimana. This is a southern European spiders which has moved north in Europe and which is now well established in the wider London area in Britain as well as in Sussex and further afield (see the Zoropsis spinimana established indoors in Britain page on this website). There are other European Zoropsis species which look very similar.

Hi, I’m hoping someone can help me identify this spider please. It's about 50mm long. I've never seen anything like it before. I live in Thames Ditton, Surrey, KT7 0TU.

This picture was taken this morning about 11am and the spider is still there as I write this at 4:15pm - it hasn't moved. The spider is on the lounge ceiling close to bi-fold doors to the garden. The doors haven't been opened for over a month so I'm not sure how the spider got in.

My wife is terrified of spiders and wants me to get rid of it. However, I don't want to kill it but would prefer to put it out in the garden or somewhere it will survive. Given it's winter I'm not sure where that would be.

Many thanks, Dem

Hi Victoria, yes this looks like Steatoda nobilis, the so-called 'noble false widow', the spider which the media make such an unjustified fuss about. It has been frequent in the southern coastal counties of England for a great many years, and is nowadays frequent and abundant in many areas of southern England and Wales, including the south coast, south-west, south-east, London area and East Anglia, and increasingly much further north. The media frenzy caused by this spider is unwarranted. Steatoda nobilis spiders are unobtrusive, have no interest in attacking humans and would only bite if they were put into a position where they do so as a defensive reaction. They are likely to present no greater risk than honey bees and social wasps. There are a number of other 'false widows' in Britain, some which are native or have been in the country for centuries, so there is a lot of misinformation about these spiders.

Hi,

I’m hoping someone can help me identify this spider please. This picture was taken about 12 weeks ago I think. I’d spotted the spider a couple weeks earlier on the roof of my outhouse and she had an egg sack. There was a smaller spider very similar to her on the same roof that I presumed was maybe the male? I’m terrified of spiders to be honest but I don’t like to kill them and seen as they weren’t in my house and they weren’t bothering anyone I left them to it. But then my window cleaner said it looked like I had false widow spiders all over the house outside and that he’d found them all round the windows as he was cleaning them, so I showed him this big one and he said they looked the same as her and that they were false windows.  He ended up spraying round the windows with what I assume was insect killer and he left this big female for me to look at properly now that she was dead and we could get up close to her.  Anyway, about 4 weeks ago we seem to have had an invasion of these things inside the house as the weather turned really nasty here at the top of the county with crazy wind and sideways rain. All different sizes of these spiders but most of them are pretty big to be honest and I’m finding them everywhere. Behind furniture and the usual dark dusty places, in the bath and even in my laundry basket and on jackets hung on the coat stand. I’ve also noticed most of the other types of spiders we usually have in the house aren’t around as much as previous years. So I’d love to know if this is indeed a false widow. Area postcode is SN14 8PT. As a size reference that’s a 2 pence coin she’s laid next too. Sadly her legs had curled up so it’s hard to appreciate how big she actually was when she was in her prime.

Many thanks

Victoria

please note as on the forum page, IF YOU WANT HELP WITH IDENTIFICATION, PLEASE PROVIDE A FULL POSTCODE OR GRID REFERENCE AND DATE of the record in your post so that it can be added to the recording scheme.

Many thanks for your help, Geoff.

Chris Hunter

Chris, your spider is almost certainly a Cupboard Spider Steatoda grossa, although rather a pale specimen. This species is fairly well distributed in southern England and Wales, but more patchy further north. For a BAS factsheet on the common Steatoda species see: http://britishspiders.org.uk/wiki2015/images/4/4c/False_widow_spider_preview_rev18.pdf

I hope this helps.

Geoff

Hello,

I am posting in the hope that you might very kindly be able to identify a spider for me please. I have attached a photograph of the specimen. This was seen on 29 August 2020, at TW15 3QN.

Since we moved into our current home two years ago, I've seen this type of spider on many occasions. They seem to be smaller and have a more rounded abdomen than the usual house spider, with pale markings, and I'm wondering if they might be a species of false widow. 

This particular specimen was hiding behind our toilet cistern, but the majority of encounters I've had with these spiders have been outside. There's a walkway to the side of our house with a lean-to and wooden shelving where they seem to particularly enjoy congregating.

The head and abdomen of this specimen are slightly smaller than the length of my fingernail, approximately 8 mm I would say. These size is typical of the spiders I have seen.

Any help you are able to give will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Chris