MichiganSpiders.Blogspot.com has moved to https://usaspiders.com/

Grass Spider

Michigan Spiders - Grass Spider-1


Michigan Spiders - Grass Spider-2
Abdomen
- Fuzzy with a pattern

Cephalothorax - Fuzzy with a striped pattern running from front to back.

Female Size - NA

Male Size - Their bodies average between 0.5 inch to 0.75 inch long. The largest of these that I have seen personally was one I caught in the basement of an apartment I lived in. The body alone was just under the size of a quarter.

Bite Info - NA

Other Notes - The Grass spider is commonly mixed up with the Wolf Spider. The two spiders have very similar markings but usually the Grass Spider has two or three stripes on its back where the Wolf Spiders stripe (if it has any) is usually more of one dominant stripe. Don't mix that up with the Nursery Web Spider though.

The three most positive ways to tell the two apart however are 1) The eyes. Grass Spiders eyes look sort of like two rows of four eyes, one above the other. Both rows are curved and all eight eyes are generally near the same in size. ...2) Grass Spiders have longer spinnerets on the back of their abdomen. Wolf Spiders do not have as long spinnerets because they do not spin webs except to protect their eggs. ..3) The Web! Grass Spiders have the flat horizontal web that ends in a funnel shape.

The Grass spider is also referred to as the Funnel Spider for the funneled portion of its web that it hides in.

These are very quick spiders and often you might find them running across your floor in the fall time. The common belief is that they come indoors during the fall because they are drawn to the warmth but the fact is the Fall is their mating season and the males will leave their nests in search for a mate.


Genus - Agelenopsis