The Common Grass Spider – Agelenidae is a large family of spiders in the suborder Araneomorphae. Well known examples include the common grass spider, of the genus Agelenopsis. Most of these spiders are harmless to humans but the bite of the Hobo Spider (Eratigena agrestis) has been known to cause necrotic lesions.
It started with an early morning walk while the dew was thick on the ground. We spotted some ground webs and when I came back with my camera I caught this shot of the sunlight on the dew droplets of the web as well as the spider patrolling the web. It took me a while to identify the spider.
These spiders build a flat sheets of non sticky web with a funnel – shaped retreat to one side or in the middle, depending on the species. This is why the common name for the group is funnel weaver. However do not confuse these spiders with funnel web spiders from the mygalomorph family.
These spiders are from the fastest runners and their hunting strategy is to build a web in the open on either grass or scrubland. They wait for the arrival of their prey such as grasshoppers that fall onto the sheet web and even though it is not sticky it is full of entangling filaments that the spider keeps laying down while moving across the web. The filaments catch in the slightest projection of the preys body or legs. The web is also springy and the spider reacts to the slightest vibration in the web. Prey is set upon and given a venomous bite which paralyses it and whereby it is dragged to the lair and devoured. Males are less successful hunters than females.
These spiders are known to find spots in houses to nest, either inside or outside under window ledges. They are not pests nor do they eat pests. They are quite selective in their prey. They will return to their webs after nesting.
They are social spiders and build complex communal webs in Africa. Social activities include communal web building, co operating to capture prey and communal rearing of young .
Lazy Lob and Crazy Cob are weaving webs to wind me. I am far more sweet than other meat, but still they cannot find me! Excerpt from poem in The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien