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      girraween > animals > arthropods > arachnids > spiders
 

Cupboard Spider, Brown House Spider, False Black Widow; Steatoda grossa
© Stewart Macdonald | Ug Media

Steatoda grossa
Cupboard Spider

Alternate Names: Brown House Spider,
False Black Widow

Conservation status: Least Concern

 
Scientific Classification
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Order:
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Species:
Arachnida
Araneae
Theridiidae
Steatoda
grossa

This species of spider is found all over Australia, as well as in New Zealand, Europe and the United States of America. It prefers temperate and tropical climates.

It is quite a small spider, with females being about 6 to 10 mm in length and males about 4 to 7 mm. Both sexes are similarly coloured - dark brown, purply brown or black with lighter coloured markings on the top of the abdomen. Females have shiny, slender legs and an egg-shaped abdomen, while males' abdomens are thinner and more elongated. Males usually have more prominent markings; typically a white or beige crescent on top of the abdomen followed by several spots. Sometimes there might be small red spots or a thin red line.

Cupboard Spiders build a tangled web with sticky lines. Outdoors, this may be under a loose piece of bark on a tree, or in leaf-litter on the ground, or under rocks and fallen timber. Indoors, it likes to inhabit dark places such as inside or underneath furniture - thus its common name. It has poor eyesight and depends on vibrations reaching it through its web to find its prey. Its prey includes small insects and other spiders, such as the redback.

Overseas, Cupboard Spiders are often mistaken for black widow spiders because of their similar appearance and web structure - thus its other common name of False Black Widow. Similarly, in Australia, the Cupboard Spider is frequently confused with its close relative, the Redback Spider - Latrodectus hasseltii. The main visual difference is that the Cupboard Spider never has the red hour-glass marking on its underside.

While not as poisonous as a Redback, the Cupboard Spider still has a nasty bite and it can cause headaches, nausea as well as small blisters or lesions around the bite area. In serious cases, Redback antivenom seems to be an effective treatment. Cupboard Spiders aren't aggressive and will usually flee when they sense danger. Bites to humans are mostly defensive and don't happen very often.

Female Cupboard Spiders can live up to two years while males usually live for about six months. Males live in the outer parts of a female's web, waiting for an opportunity to mate. A male spider usually dies shortly after mating as the female catches and eats him. The egg sac that the female produces is round in shape, coloured white to cream and is suspended in her web for protection.

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© Vanessa and Chris Ryan, 2009 | Copyright Details and Disclaimer
Last updated: 17th April 2016