Page 20 - Florida Pest Control Examinations

1.Antenna- none 6.Cephalothorax CELLAR SPIDER
2.Eyes- 8 7.Petiole- none
3.Prosoma 8.Abdomen- larger than body
4.Legs- 8, very long 9.Color- brownish
5.Wings- none 10.Other- can be large
Life Cycle 3
Male and female Cellar spiders will live in close proximity to each other.
The female wraps eggs in a sac that is carried around for safety. She 4
only produces three eggs sacs in her lifetime, each sac contains 10-60 8
eggs. The eggs hatch after several weeks, and crawl on to the mother.
The whole egg to adult process takes about a year, and adult spiders
can live up to two years. Photo Courtesy of UNIVAR
CELLAR SPIDER / PHOLCID SPIDER Actual body size 1/16” to 1/3”

One spider that is frequently found indoors is the Marbled Cellar spider, which makes a cobweb in
corners of rooms, in windows, and in similar places—especially dark, damp cellars. It has replaced the
once common Longbodied Cellar spider, a long-legged spider that resembles and is frequently con-
fused with a Daddy-longlegs. The Marbled Cellar spider often is confused with the Brown Recluse spi-
der. They have a darker area on their head region (cephalothorax) and have eight eyes. The various
Cellar spiders have a body about 1/16th to 1/3rd inch long, with legs up to another two inches. Cellar
spiders are incapable of biting humans because their fangs are too short to pierce people’s skin; they
primarily cause problems by producing messy cobwebs. They hang on the web until their prey comes
along. They will eat just about any type of insect, shaking around and then wrapping it in the web be-
fore sucking it dry.

1.Antenna- none 6.Cephalothorax HOUSE SPIDER
2.Eyes- 8 7.Petiole- none
3.Prosoma 8.Abdomen- gray and black
4.Legs- 8 9.Color- yellow and brown legs 8
5.Wings- none 10.Other
4

Life Cycle
The female lays about 200 eggs in a light brown silken ball in her nest. 9
In Florida, all the stages of development are present throughout the
year. The female may live up to eight years, but males are short-lived. Photo Courtesy of UNIVAR

HOUSE SPIDER Actual body size 3/4”

The most abundant spiders found in Florida homes are probably the Common House spider and the
Southern House spider. The Southern House spider is much larger than the Common House spider,
which is only about 1/5 inch in size. While they are not really dangerous to humans, the male Southern
th
House spider is frequently mistaken for the Brown Recluse spider. They can bite, but it is usually not
serious. This spider is considered beneficial and will prey upon many pest insects, including flies, mud
daubers, cockroaches, other spiders, scorpions, and May beetles.

Both varieties make a “tangle” web and some will form a “tent” out of a dead leaf toward the middle
of its web where it will hide. The webs often extend from the edges of buildings, but can be on trees,
bridges, under eaves, etc. Males do not build webs—they just wander around looking for a female with
which to mate.

20