General Description

By Nora Bryan

For most bugwatchers, getting to know the spiders by the types of webs they weave is easier than trying to identify their sometimes small or shy owners. The Funnel-web spiders make dense silken sheets with a distinctive funnel on one edge and a network of lines overhead for tripping up insects who them fall onto the sheet. The spider scrambles from its resting place inside the funnel to seize and drag away the luckless insect.

Look for the distinctive webs of the Grass Spiders (Agelenopsis species) in grassy places, especially in the morning when dew catches the thin filaments and makes the web sparkle. Another good place to find an imported relative is in your basement. Here, you might find the web of the European House Spider (Tegenaria domestica). The dense web is horizontal and triangular, usually in a dark corner. The fair sized spider hangs out unobtrusievly in the corner funnel.

Funnel-web spiders are small to medium sized (up to 20 mm or ¾ in. long.). They are often brown with very long hairy legs and narrow pointed abdomens.

Sometimes the name 'funnel-web' makes people nervous because in the back of their minds they remember something about funnel-web spiders being dangerous. The danger comes not from these harmless spiders but from a completely different group of spiders from Australia also called funnel-web spiders. There is no need to fear our North American spiders.

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Where to find Funnel Web Weavers in Alberta   

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Funnel Web Weaver Family Behaviour   

Interesting Facts about Funnel Web Weavers   

Funnel Web Weaver Family Stories from our Readers   

Funnel Web Weaver Family Sounds

• No sounds for this species in our library at this time.

Recent Funnel Web Weaver Family Reports in Alberta

Funnel Web Weaver Family Hotspots in Alberta

Allied Species found in Alberta

• Mesh-web Spider Family  - Dictynidae
• Comb-footed Spider Family  - Theridiidae
• Western Black Widow  - Latrodectus hesperus
• Sheet-web Weaver Family  - Linyphiidae
• Orb-Weaver Family  - Araneidae
• Banded Garden Spider  - Argiope trifasciata
• Marbled Orb Weaver  - Araneus marmoreus
• Long-jawed Orb-Weaver Family  - Tetragnathidae
• House Spider  - Tegenaria spp.
• Six-Spotted Fishing Spider  - Dolomedes triton
• Wolf Spider Family  - Lycosidae
• Thin-legged Wolf Spider  - Pardosa spp.
• Burrowing Wolf Spider  - Geolycosa missouriensis
• Crab Spider Family  - Thomisidae
• Goldenrod Crab Spider  - Misumena vatia
• Jumping Spider Family  - Salticidae