CLOSED: I need help Identifying this spider - HELP....

About 3 or 4 days ago a very large wild cherry tree came down in our yard & I found this guy today. I live in Central to western TN about 2 mi. from TN River. This guy is approx. 3½ "- 4" in diam including legs. Is black & silver. The silver actually appears when you look at it to be metal, Like shiny aluminum. He is as we speak on a 2x6 in my shed & did not appear to be aggressive. Didn't move when I got VERY close to him & poked around him a little to see if he'd move. No luck, probably thankfully too. Sorry this is the best pic I could get of him. He does not seem to have any kind of web. We believe he was probably living in the cherry tree that came down. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This appears to be a fishing/dock/nursery web spider (family Pisauridae) in the genus Dolomedes - see http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/2317/. They often wander quite some distance from water in search of prey. Like their close relatives, the wolf spiders, they actively hunt for prey and do not spin a capture web.

We have 2 HUGE spiders outside our Dunlap, Tn cabin.
I got close enough to get an estimate of length and width. From the end of his abdomen to the tip of its head it is about 1.5 to 2 inches long. The abdomen is HUGE. On its own it is about an inch long and about 3/4 to a whole inch wide. The abdomen is tall as well. There is a pattern along the back of the abdomen. The base color looks as if it were brown and rolled around in pollen. Then there is a brown design going vertically along its back that has 2 brown outer stripes with some brown and tan splotches between the two stripes.
It’s legs are long with the front ones having the most length and the back ones being the shortest. The legs are a dark brown and yellowish striped pattern.
The spiders have taken over the whole front deck with webs. Each one has one large (4 to 5 ft) orb web. Then surrounding in smaller areas are thick dense white webs that have no orb features (Im not sure if those are just coincidental or if those are theirs). When a bug enters it’s web it waits a few seconds then runs to the bug. It quickly wraps the bug up in a THICK coat of it’s silk.
PLEASE respond we have kids and animals here and would like to know if allowing those spiders to continue living here could put anyone in danger.
Thanks,
Rebecca Schlanger

These are orb weaving spiders (family Araneidae); likely either an Araneus or Neoscona sp. - see http://tinyurl.com/9l2hno and http://tinyurl.com/2cvblvw for some examples. In spite of their size and appearance, these spiders are harmless to humans.

BTW, when asking for an i.d., you really should start a new thread rather than appending your query to an existing one (particularly one marked 'Closed'), otherwise, your request may be overlooked.

This message was edited Jun 27, 2010 10:56 AM