Redback Spider

First time I had seen one of these was inside a large cable spool on my paintball field (now closed). This was before camera phones and I dispatched her with a .68 caliber paintball. Thought it was just a deformed Black Widow with a red stripe on her back instead of an hourglass underneath. Later watching a nature show on Discovery or Animal Planet discussing venomous spiders I learned of the Australian Redback Spider. I figured the cable on the spool must have been imported and that she rode a ship over and crawled into the spool. Now 10 plus years later I get a call from my oldest daughter telling me "Dad I think a Black widow Spider just dropped from the gate and crawled between the brick and wood on the house. It was black and had red on it". I tell her to get the wasp spray I have and spray her with it. Well it was another from down under. She sent a picture from her phone and placed a cup over it. I'll post better pictures if it is still there when I get home this evening. Keep an eye out for Brown Recluses, Black Widows, Brown Widows and now Redback Spiders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider

Thanks for the heads up! In & around my house, all spiders are considered a lethal threat and are administered magnificent force. Wasp spray works very well & from a distance!

Tip: When you pull out clothes that haven't been worn in a while, like coats in the fall, toss them in the dryer and run on high heat for 15 minutes. You might find a crawling critter in the pocket, but it'll be DEAD!

My brother had one about that big. He would let it run around and a small red haired thing as well. You should have seen them eat a mouse. WOW. ALTHOUGH NOT VENOMOUS. still I was not fan.

I've been seeing these yellow spikey spiders in my yard lately, also imports from Austrailia apparently.
I believe they're called Yellow Jeweled spiders.

Spikey and black and yellow sounds like an orb spider.

Paintball said:

First time I had seen one of these was inside a large cable spool on my paintball field (now closed). This was before camera phones and I dispatched her with a .68 caliber paintball. Thought it was just a deformed Black Widow with a red stripe on her back instead of an hourglass underneath. Later watching a nature show on Discovery or Animal Planet discussing venomous spiders I learned of the Australian Redback Spider. I figured the cable on the spool must have been imported and that she rode a ship over and crawled into the spool. Now 10 plus years later I get a call from my oldest daughter telling me "Dad I think a Black widow Spider just dropped from the gate and crawled between the brick and wood on the house. It was black and had red on it". I tell her to get the wasp spray I have and spray her with it. Well it was another from down under. She sent a picture from her phone and placed a cup over it. I'll post better pictures if it is still there when I get home this evening. Keep an eye out for Brown Recluses, Black Widows, Brown Widows and now Redback Spiders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider

Click to expand...

No need to worry. It’s not a Red Back spider from Australia. Like the black widow, the red-backed spider is in the family Theridiidae (comb-footed/cobweb spiders), and the abdomen is nearly spherical in females.

The spider is in your pic is in the family Clubionidae and the genus Castianeira.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/2000

Your spider belongs to a subgroup within this family referred to as 'ant-mimic spiders'; this particular species is thought to resemble a velvet ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae). It is harmless to humans.



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Metryshooter said:

I've been seeing these yellow spikey spiders in my yard lately, also imports from Austrailia apparently.
I believe they're called Yellow Jeweled spiders.

Click to expand...

LACamper is right. It’s a spiny backed orb weaver more than likely.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/2026



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Yeah it's an orb spider. I'd never seen one before then all of a sudden my backyard was loaded with huge webs with little gobs every few inches.

critta said:

No need to worry. It’s not a Red Back spider from Australia. Like the black widow, the red-backed spider is in the family Theridiidae (comb-footed/cobweb spiders), and the abdomen is nearly spherical in females.

The spider is in your pic is in the family Clubionidae and the genus Castianeira.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/2000

Your spider belongs to a subgroup within this family referred to as 'ant-mimic spiders'; this particular species is thought to resemble a velvet ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae). It is harmless to humans.



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Click to expand...

In many places they are called false widows.
Black widow egg balls are very Spikey. Easy to id.

critta said:

No need to worry. It’s not a Red Back spider from Australia. Like the black widow, the red-backed spider is in the family Theridiidae (comb-footed/cobweb spiders), and the abdomen is nearly spherical in females.
The spider is in your pic is in the family Clubionidae and the genus Castianeira.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/2000
Your spider belongs to a subgroup within this family referred to as 'ant-mimic spiders'; this particular species is thought to resemble a velvet ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae). It is harmless to humans.
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Click to expand...

Thank you and you are correct It is/was a Castianeira Descripta also known as "The Redspotted Antmimic" and not a Redback. It is native to North America and harmless to humans.

That said I whole heartedly believe the one on the paintball field over 15 years ago was a Redback due to it's size, shape and the almost straight red line on her back. That being said people spot UFO's, Bigfoot's, Black Panthers and Chupacabra's, so I could have been seeing things.....

Glad it was not a Redback and sorry for the false alarm.

Redspotted Antmimic



Redback Spider