My son grabbed his shoes from the top of his closet. There was a mud cocoon inside one, when he knocked it out, it broke apart, and all these spiders were inside near hatching. To me, and I'm no scientist, they look like several different species. There was also a large larvae. Don't know what any of it is. One looks like a wolf spider, one an orchard spider, and one a brown recluse, is that even possible?
These spiders (orb weavers, including an Eriophora sp,, a woodlouse spider, and a fishing spider) are completely harmless, as they all are either dead or paralyzed. The 'nest' was made by a wasp who provisioned it with the spiders as food for its young, the larva in the last image.
So...in your opinion, the spiders were collected and put in there by a wasp? They appeared to be growing? No? They had been paralyzed and placed in there by the wasp? wow. What's the red looking one? thing that makes me uncomfortable is all the various types, are they dangerous when they are active? They must be readily available on my property, any that I should watch for? No brown recluse in the mix?
All those spiders are/were harmless to humans, and they definitely were not growing! Look up "spider wasps"...
The red-looking one is a woodlouse spider - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse_spider
