They are found in most outdoor habitats throughout North America and may come into homes in fall when the weather cools.

The cellar spider is easy to spot in homes because of its long spindly legs and tiny, egg-shaped, brown body. Although this small brown spider only measures 0.08” to 0.39” (2 – 10 mm), it has an enormous leg span of 2” (50 mm). In addition, the small spider has six eyes arranged in groups of three. While the spider stalks closer, it uses the side front eyes (ALE) judge the distance to the prey. When it judges the prey to be close enough (about 2 cm - 3 cm), the spider leaps.It is important to identify the correct species of spider to tell harmless house spiders apart from ones that bite. The good news is that most spiders you find in your home or garage won’t do any more harm than give you a fright. Spider Facts

In the home, you are more likely to come across common types of harmless brown house spiders. For example, there is the cupboard spider, American house spider, cellar spider, and the aggressive house spider. While most spiders bite, brown spiders are not considered dangerous but rather a nuisance pest. Huntsman spiders are large hairy spiders that can sometimes be mistaken for tarantulas. They have brown/beige or tan-colored bodies and long legs. Usually, the bodies are just under an inch (2 cm) long and their leg span can be as large as 6” (15 cm). The difference between these venomous arachnids and tarantulas is that their front legs resemble a crab’s pose.Spider identification: These large spiders in North America are found in southeastern states such as the Carolinas, Florida, and can even be found in Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia. To identify these interesting spiders, look for their long orange or dark tan shaped body with white spots. Harvestmen don’t spin webs and have poor eyesight. Instead, they use their front legs as antennae and hunt small insects. House Spider Identification The American house spider is commonly found indoors and is identified by its bulbous brown mottled body and long legs

Spiders also have several adaptations that distinguish them from other arachnids. All spiders are capable of producing silk of various types, which many species use to build webs to ensnare prey. Most spiders possess venom, which is injected into prey (or defensively, when the spider feels threatened) through the fangs of the chelicerae. Male spiders have specialized pedipalps that are used to transfer sperm to the female during mating. Many species of spiders exhibit a great deal of sexual dimorphism. [1] External anatomy [ edit ] The underside and head of a female spiderDue to their brown color, the American house spider is difficult to spot indoors. Signs of these common indoor spiders are messy cobwebs in corners of window frames, ceilings, and furniture. There is an urban legend that daddy long-legs spiders have the most potent venom of any spider but that their fangs are either too small or too weak to puncture human skin; the same legend is also repeated of the harvestman and crane fly, also known as daddy long-legs in some regions. This is not true for any of the three. Pholcidae are indeed capable of biting humans and their venom is not medically significant, and neither harvestmen nor crane flies have any venom or fangs to speak of. Indeed, pholcid spiders do have a short fang structure (called uncate due to its "hooked" shape). Brown recluse spiders also have uncate fang structure, but are able to deliver medically significant bites.