25 Common Spiders: Types, Names and Pictures

Scientists split spiders into two main groups based on how their fangs move, then into more than 130 families. For everyday identification, the way a spider catches food is more useful.

The two main groups

• Mygalomorphs: heavy bodied spiders with fangs that point straight down, such as tarantulas, trapdoor spiders and funnel webs.
• Araneomorphs: about 90% of all spiders, with fangs that close sideways like pincers, including orb weavers, wolf spiders, jumpers and house spiders.

Types by hunting style

• Orb weavers: round, wheel shaped webs in gardens and hedges.
• Cobweb and tangle web spiders: messy, three dimensional webs in corners and sheds.
• Funnel and sheet web spiders: flat sheets of silk with a funnel shaped hiding tube.
• Ground hunters: run down prey without a web, such as wolf spiders.
• Jumpers and ambush hunters: stalk or wait for prey, such as jumping spiders and crab spiders.
• Burrowers: wait in silk lined holes, such as tarantulas and trapdoor spiders.

These are 25 of the spiders people around the world find most often, with the group each belongs to and one quick way to recognize it.

Several of these spiders have their own full guides, including wolf spiders and jumping spiders.

Indoor spiders are mostly small web builders and wandering hunters that can live on the few insects inside a home, while outdoor spiders need plants, soil or water to hunt. Some outdoor spiders come in by accident, especially in autumn.

Most indoor spiders are harmless, and cleaning, vacuuming and sealing gaps keep their numbers low.

Almost all spiders are harmless to people. Only a small number of the world's spider species can cause serious symptoms, and even those bite rarely. Most spiders' fangs are too small to break human skin. The few that matter are:

• Widow spiders: black widows, redbacks and relatives can cause pain and muscle cramps.
• Recluse spiders: brown recluses and relatives can, in some cases, cause skin sores.
• Funnel web spiders: found in eastern Australia, with fast acting venom; no deaths since antivenom became available.
• Wandering spiders: found in Central and South America, sometimes in banana shipments.

Large size often scares people more than real danger. Huntsman spiders, giant house spiders, fishing spiders and most tarantulas look alarming but are not dangerous to healthy people, and their bites usually feel much like a bee sting.

Some of the strangest spiders look like bird droppings, ants or even jewels:

• Peacock spiders (Maratus): tiny Australian jumpers whose males raise bright, fan shaped flaps to dance.
• Bird dropping spiders: sit still on leaves by day, looking exactly like a bird dropping.
• Ant mimicking jumpers: narrow bodied jumpers that copy the shape and walk of ants.
• Ogre faced spiders: hold a silk net between their front legs and throw it over passing insects.
• Darwin's bark spider: spins giant orb webs across rivers in Madagascar, with some of the toughest silk known.
• Goliath birdeater: a South American tarantula that is one of the heaviest spiders in the world.

To identify a spider, check its web, eyes, body shape and where you found it, then confirm with a clear photo. These steps narrow most spiders to a group:

• Look at the web: a round wheel means an orb weaver, a messy tangle means a cobweb or cellar spider, a flat sheet with a tunnel means a funnel web spider.
• No web? The spider is probably a hunter, such as a wolf spider, jumper, crab spider or sac spider.
• Check the eyes: two huge front eyes mean a jumper; six eyes instead of eight point to recluses.
• Check the shape: long thin legs, a round abdomen, a flat body or a hairy heavy body each point to different groups.
• Note the place: a flower, a lawn, a dock, a basement corner or a garage wall each favors certain spiders.

For a visual checklist with photos, use the Spider Identifier.

Many spiders share the same common name, and the same spider can have different names in different countries. A "house spider" in the United States usually means a small cobweb spider, while in the United Kingdom it often means the large, hairy giant house spider. A "tarantula" in Europe once meant a wolf spider. This is why scientists use a two part scientific name, such as Araneus diadematus, which stays the same everywhere. When you look up spider pictures, check both the common name and the scientific name so you are comparing the right species.