Garden Pests and Diseases: is this a friend or foe?, 1 by ceejaytown

ceejaytown wrote:
Excellent point, Night.

No, it's not a see through spider. The abdomen and top half (cephalothorax - head and thorax are combined into one part) are two different shades of tan. Usually the abdomen is darker - not always. The celphalothorax is rounded, the abdomen is more oblong. Once you are familiar with them, they are easy to recognize at 15 feet! (or more, depending on the light, lol) Their legs are unusually long and they are more delicate, unlike a wolf spider (good guy) who has heavy legs. Stripes down the back rule out brown recluse also.

I used to be afraid of spiders until I learned more about them. And until I found out that they were actually good guys - eating insects and not plants. They are really very interesting, and I still have a lot to learn!

Here's another brown recluse, fiddle back, violin spider....