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Photo: Brian Smith
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UK
Safari Tip:
To help you identify house and garden spiders there's a beautifully
illustrated fold out chart in the Nature Shop - click
here
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Latin name: Steatoda nobilis
Size: Between 7 and 14mms long.
Distribution: Found in most parts of southern England. Recently
reported sightings were in Bristol, North Wiltshire and Gloucester.
Months seen: All year round
Food: Flies and other small insects
Habitat: Usually found in houses and out buildings.
Special features: The false widow spider (Steatoda Nobilis) probably
arrived in the UK from the Canary Islands. It was first
recorded in Torquay, Devon, back in 1879. Since then it has adapted well to our
colder climate.
False widows belong to a group of spiders which are part of the same family as the infamous Black Widow
spiders, although they are nowhere near as toxic. They are frequently mistaken for Black Widow spiders,
which has led to the common name of "False Widow" spiders.
As you can see from the photos they have a dark shiny body.
 The
abdomen has some pale markings on the top, and there is a creamy coloured band
all round the front.
If you click the photo above you'll notice that all the pale markings look like
an intricate mosaic.
 The false
widow web consists of many short, irregularly placed silk strands. It's a bit of
a mish-mash.
False widows have a bit of a reputation for biting people, although in truth,
this is quite a rare occurrence. You would need to be very unlucky, or go out
of your way to be bitten. They only bite if mishandled or provoked. To those who have experienced it,
the bite is
said to be similar to a bee sting.
Another false widow spider which is frequently seen is Steatoda bipunctata -
sometimes called the Rabbit Hutch Spider
Recently sent by a visitor:
"I work as a washing machine repair man in and around Gloucester and Cheltenham. Since this introduction to the False Widow I have seen many, in many houses. Males and females alike and some with eggs. I even repaired a washing machine that has a honeycomb-like structure in its base and I counted about 14 separate False Widows, each occupying it's own space and ranging from baby to adult, there were even eggs, so I guess by now the machine is slightly over-run with them. I have lost count of the amount I've now seen but I see at least one approximately every two weeks" - Wayne Mills
Photo showing a variation of the
colouring on a false widow
UK Safari Spider Section
UK Safari Creepy-Crawlies Section
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