For example, also in Illinois we have the Spitting Spider, the Jumping Spider, the Grey Wall Jumper, the Black Widow, and the ominously-named Mouse Spider (How the hell big is that thing? Does it eat mice? Is it as big as a mouse? Ewwwwww!)Īs research for this post, I decided I would try to identify all the spiders I see around our place. Knowing how descriptive spider naming conventions are could lead to some arachnophobia if one thinks about it.

We have the Crab Spider (more about him later) who looks like a crab, the Ant Mimic Spider which looks very much like an ant, the Long Legged Sac spider which has a big sac-shaped abdomen and, yep, long legs.

In addition, in Illinois, we have the Black and Yellow Garden Spider which is, get this, black and yellow and lives in the garden. There is the above mentioned creature who lives in the grass and builds funnel-shaped webs. Grass Spider or Funnel Web Spider – lying in waitĪside here: one has to admire the logical minimalism of spider names. The webs are the endless work of the aptly named Grass Spider or funnel web spider (Genus Agelenopsis). The water droplets from the heavy dew really made them stick out today, however. I suspect they are probably there every morning during the summer months. The first thing I noticed, aside from a mosquito bite, was the pattern of funnel shaped webs scattered about in the grass. I got up early this morning while the dew was still on and took a walk around our yard. I have almost never been injured by a spider but the insects they dispatch have done me and my garden much personal harm. Firstly, of course, so that I don’t look like a sissy every time I encounter one and secondly because they deserve our grudging respect and yes, appreciation. I have decided that I must come to terms with these amazing hunters. Spiders’ strategies are just as remarkable. The fact that the little brown bat darting over my head last night can weave in and out among the trees and catch mosquitos on the wing by bouncing sound waves off of them is an achievement I can hardly fathom. These are all amazing creatures at the apex of an evolutionary pyramid millions of years old. A real sweetie.Įaten alive – Funny, they didn’t show this in the Lion King! (notice the fly whistling past the graveyard)īut I can appreciate the beauty and efficiency of the mantis and the snake and the peregrine falcon. Then she would carry them down below and chew their heads off. She would sit up on the landing board and pluck bees right out of the air with her lightning reflexes as they approached the hive. Check out photo below to see one of these ladies depopulating my bee hive one morning. As a husband I just can’t sanction that sort of behavior. They not only eat other insects alive, they eat their own mates alive. How about the mantis? These gals are such callous assassins that they make the Terminator look like Wall-E. As I said, I love snakes and they are, by definition, cold-blooded killers. (Won’t put my finger on.) I could say “they are killers.” And they are killers, quite skillful and remorseless killers. There is something about spiders, though, that I literally can’t put my finger on. Google Coral Snake to appreciate just how momentous that was. I even walked out on my patio in Florida one morning and was excited to find a Coral Snake casually crossing our threshold. My daughter and I were elated to find a tiger salamander crossing our road one rainy day and we inconvenienced him for some time with our examinations before sending him on his way. Most creepy crawlers don’t bother me and, indeed, some I really enjoy. But let a spider run up my leg and, much like the Roadrunner, there is a puff of smoke in the shape of me and I am gone.Ī cute little creepy-crawly – A Tiger Salamander from our yard I even had a 5” long praying mantis land on my arm once and only levitated a few feet above the ground. Centipedes, O.K., pushing the limit a bit, but I can deal with that. My kids and I all love snakes and it is treat for us when we spot a Milk Snake or Garter in our yard, especially if we can catch it.

As a fisherman, especially one who spends time in Canada, I have donated a pint or two to those mosquito bloodsuckers. As a beekeeper, I have been stung by bees on occasion. Other bugs? I can take them or leave them. I have an illogical prejudice against spiders. Then steered the white moth thither in the night? What brought the kindred spider to that height, What had that flower to do with being white, Like the ingredients of a witches’ broth–Ī snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,Īnd dead wings carried like a paper kite.

Grass spider long bodied cellar spider