Basement in Wisconsin (Metro area)

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cheers44 Mount Pleasant, WI Apr 15, 2013

I found this dead, but perfectly intact, spider in my basement a couple months ago as I was cleaning. Much bigger than the ones I am used to seeing. I was pretty freaked out and tried to find out what it was with no such luck. I forgot about it until tonight. I went to do a load of laundry and there is was - the same kind of spider standing there right in front of the dryer...alive. I freaked (again) and smooshed it with the bleach bottle. Normally I do not kill anything in my house...I leave it be or put it outside. But this was just too scary for me.

Anyone have any ideas? This pic is pretty accurate...the spider was a little lighter than the pic shows. I would say about the diameter between a dime and a nickel.

Thanks in advance!!

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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Apr 16, 2013

Very difficult to be certain from such a damaged specimen, but most likely a harmless wolf spider. These are active hunters that often wander indoors. The only really dangerous spider in Wisconsin would be a northern black widow, which looks nothing like your specimen.

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cheers44 Mount Pleasant, WI Apr 16, 2013

Thank you. I actually thought this was in pretty good shape for being a dead guy :) I will post a picture with the more accurate coloring - however it isn't close up. Don't we have brown recluse in Wisconsin too? That is really what I was afraid of - I didn't even KNOW there were black widows here!! Yikes.

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Post #9485838
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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Apr 16, 2013

Really need to see the eye pattern of your spider to be confident of an i.d. And you are outside the known range of the brown recluse spider - http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef631.asp and http://insects.about.com/od/spiders/tp/brown-recluse-lies.htm

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