She has been living in an upper corner of my bathroom. I try to coexist with the critters if I know that they're harmless. This is definitely a "she", because she wasn't this fat until another spider of her species paid her a visit about 2-3 weeks ago, he's living on the outskirts of her main web since then. She is very pregnant. I got up on a stool with a flash light and magnifying glass to try to get a better look, but that didn't help. And these guys weren't very skittish about me getting up there in their space (either that, or they just didn't notice me) I'd like to find out what kind of spider she is before her babies come out, so if she is dangerous, it'll be easier to relocate two spiders, instead of 200...
CLOSED: Need assistance identifying this spider
This spider is in the family Theridiidae (cobweb/comb-footed spiders), likely the common house spider, Achaearanea tepidariorum (sometimes also placed in the genus Parasteatoda). Although they belong to the same family as the notorious widow spiders, these are harmless to humans, but left to their own devices, they will construct an incredible amount of messy cobwebs, See http://tinyurl.com/4tdtbbb for detailed information.
Thank you, yes, I've swept many of those things off of my walls/ceilings. As long as she and her boyfriend are harmless, they can stay then.
Are you sure this isn't a spider in the family Pholcidae? I can see how the angle of the photo might give the appearance of a cobweb spider, but the prosoma and legs seems to fit the appearance of cellar spiders, particularly P. phalangioides. Here is a less gravid picture of the spider, but at a similar angle, http://tinyurl.com/4pw5lqr .
Thank you for the correction, drrex - I answered too much in haste. Had I taken more time in examining the image, I also would have seen that the eye pattern was not typical for a theridiid. My sincere apologies for the goof; I'll take my 30 lashes now...
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