Help me help my friend - spider?

I have never seen a spider like this, but a friend of mine found this on her porch this morning and she lives only a few miles from me, so apparently it is something we have in middle Tennessee, zone 7-ish.

for the life of me, can't remember the name but it is beneficial, that i do remember.

Looks like a fishing or nursery web spider. There are lots and I'm not sure which one it is. One can go cross-eyed searching pics. LOL

This message was edited Jul 24, 2011 5:00 PM

fishing spider! that's what i was trying to remember.

Thank you - I see several photos of Dolomedes, and this one definitely looks like a lot of them. I'll let her know!

Glad I could help. I usually have brain freeze when I really want to name something. Especially people. ^_^

I would agree with Dolomedes. Also, I wanted to share that I recently found one of these spiders, specifically D. albineus, in the familiar position of facing downwards on a tree trunk, only this one had its fangs in the face of a Green Anole. The rest of the lizard was hanging below, from the spiders mouth, dangling just off the trunk of the tree! This was a good sized lizard as well. These spiders are impressive predators!

This message was edited Jul 25, 2011 1:27 PM

Oh that would have skeered this poor woman even more!!!!

oh no! i just love the green Anoles....i won't, however, kill a spider unless it's a black widow in my garage...even then, i usually don't spray. i know they're in there and i just try to be careful. having been bitten once before by a black widow, it's possible that my immune system will de-activate some of the poison if i am bitten again. it was a horribly painful ordeal....

A painful ordeal, Track! I don't like to kill spiders, either, unless they just aren't safe or I can't relocate them. Spiders are amazing creatures.

i agree!

I kill brown recluses in the house, and really all spiders I find indoors - sorry!

We don't typically get black widows in the house, although they're plentiful outdoors. I give 'em plenty of room out there, along with all the other spiders I find :-)

didn't mean to lay a guilt trip on you, terry! lol
when i lived up north, i killed more than my share of recluses in the house....and a few southern house spiders down here that were just too darn big. they would have needed their own bedroom.........yikes!