CLOSED: What kind of spider is this?

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bigbird14902 Chicago, IL Jun 29, 2010

Hi all! Sorry for lack of picture, I will try to snap a good one as soon as I get the chance.

I have just moved into an apartment on the 29th floor of a high rise in Chicago. I have a spider outside each window, and I'm really curious to figure out what kind of spiders they are. Thanks for the help. Here are the facts:

-Definitely nocturnal (partly why I have a hard time getting a picture)
-Make webs. One guy has one that is 2 feet or so in diameter.
-The spiders have a large rear portion (Abdomen?) and then pretty much just their heads.
-The abdomen part on the larger of the spiders is the size of a small blueberry.
-Abdomen on one spider has a marking similar to a filled-in number 8 on the underside. Vertically aligned from head to tail.
-Bodies appear to be approx 0.5 inches or less in length.
-Legs are brown and white stripes (relatively thick stripes). Body appear to have brown and white stripes as well, but they never turn around so I can't get a good look.

Cheers.

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kwanjin (Zone 7a) Jun 30, 2010

To me, that sounds like a crab spider of some kind.

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Jun 30, 2010

These definitely would not be crab spiders (family Thomisidae) ; they would be orb weavers (family Araneidae) of some sort. See http://tinyurl.com/2eyab24 for some examples.

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kwanjin (Zone 7a) Jun 30, 2010

Trying to learn. Thanks,

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