A couple of Pine Barrens Spiders

Mike_Future

New Member
May 8, 2006
23
0
46
Fairfield County, CT
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A small black spider of the family Gnaphosidae, the "running spiders". Has not yet been identified at a specific level. I saw many of these.


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Elegant Crab Spider (Xysticus elegans)

A very interesting crab spider that I saw on the edge of a trail.
 

mudboy dave

Explorer
Oct 15, 2008
950
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atco
opentrailsnj.org
What are the huge thick brown spiders that make webs across the trails in the Pines (mostly seen in Wharton) on hot nights? the webs are ultra thick and they usually go across trails up to 20 feet across. The spider it'self seems to stay in the middle and is pretty large in diameter and is fat. I never see them during the day, only at night. It seems whenever I go for a night ride I end up with at least on of these crawling up my windsheild. What kind of spider are they, and can they harm you? I have heard that they are recluses (spelling?). I have heard wolf (I don't believe), and I have heard just plain old "pine spiders".
 

woodjin

Piney
Nov 8, 2004
4,338
326
Near Mt. Misery
Dave, those are probably orb weavers. They get real big. I've walked into a few webs, ended up them on me and have not been bit...shocked a little maybe. They are not deadly.

Jeff
 

mudboy dave

Explorer
Oct 15, 2008
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atco
opentrailsnj.org
Dave, those are probably orb weavers. They get real big. I've walked into a few webs, ended up them on me and have not been bit...shocked a little maybe. They are not deadly.

Jeff

I figured they were some sort of Orb Weaver which are generally harmless. I was just curious to what kind. I hear ya on the shocked part. I can recall twice when I used to ride my ATV behind my parents house (Wharton). riding without a shirt and goinginto the webs and having one spider land directly on my neck and the other on my hand. Both times I fell off of my quad in pure "shock" asnd yelling and screaming like a little schoolgirl.:rofl: After that happened I bailed of my ATV a few times when seeing their webs approach. Now I don't worry about it since I don't ride anymore lol. Plus I don't think my body could handle the falls anymore lol. Thanks for the reply
 
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