The hobo spider is also commonly known as the: "Aggressive house spider." It got this name because "agrestis" means "aggressive". These spiders have mostly light brown & dark brown markings on its cephalothoraxes. They are about the size of a penny. The female hobo spider measures about 9.5-16.5mm. Male hobo spiders can be 7-13.5mm. The hobo spider also does not like to be high off the ground. These spiders don't climb vertically much. The hobo spider is related to the brown recluse spider, this spider is way more deadly than the hobo spider. Even though this spider isn't as deadly as others this spider is still considered to be a medically important spider in North America. This spider is very venomous and the symptoms to this are, first, it gets red, and then it swells, then it starts to get hard and it becomes a problem. It doesn't hurt when your bit, it is supposed to feel like a little pinch. The male hobo spider has a more venomous bite than the female. The egg hatching happens mostly in the summer time. The mating season is June through September.

The hobo spider is commonly located in the Utah area. Their population is increasing. When hobo spiders live outside they either live in the cracks of concrete or if they live indoors they are usually found in basements, in between boxes with there creatively spun webs. These webs are very thick and built to catch their food. These spiders hardily wander away from their web. The kind of web that they spin is called a funnel. There are many spiders with that technique of spinning. There is one thing that really caught my attention that was that these hobo spiders are practically afraid of highs. The hobo spiders hardly climb vertically; also most bites occur during June and September because the male hobo spider is searching for a female mate. When the girl spiders have mated they get ready to lay their eggs. The hobo spider usually stays near their webs. Another thing I thought was interesting was that the pedipalp kind of looks likes a boxing glove. The pedipalp is used for mating.

Author: Stephanie H

Published: 03/2008

Sources: https://extension.usu.edu/files/ publications/fact sheet/ENT-86-07.pdf http://bugguide.net/node/view/31446 fieldguide.mt.gov/displayFamily.aspx?class=Arachnida - 12k

Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Female-hobo.gif