I found this spider on a trail at Oconee State Park in South Carolina. I knew it was a funnel web spider and decided to coax it out with a stick. Wow! This thing was about an inch and a half big. Dark grey/black with red rings on its legs. Never seen anything like it! The only thing I could find on the web (that looks just like it) is the Sydney Funnel Web spider. I doubt it could be that, so I'm hoping someone here can ID it for me. Thanks!
I wanted to add a close-up view. Sorry about the poor focus, but she didn't hang around long enough to get a good photo.
To the best of my knowledge, the only spiders in South Carolina that construct webs of this nature are funnel weavers in the family Agelenidae. Wolf spiders in the genus Sosippus construct similar webs, but they do not seem to be reported north of Florida. A clear dorsal image would be useful in confirming an i.d., but funnel weavers are notoriously skittish...
Thank you Flapdoodle.
After doing some more searching, I did at least find a reference for one found in Texas that looks similar to the one we saw in South Carolina. If I were still in South Carolina, I would happily go out and take additional photos. Here is a link to the one that looks very similar to our photo. It was not completely identified, but as you said, is in the family Agelenidae.
http://bugsinthenews.info/araneae-agelenidae-funnel-web-spiders/
You can see more examples at http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/funnel_spiders_agelenidae
It has been my experience that ones in the genus Agelenopsis are the most commonly seen ones in the eastern US...
