what kind of big black spider exists in rhode island and would live under a dock?
Byi work at a day camp in rhode island….which is the STATE that is near boston (a lot of people confuse it with LONG island, new york.)
there is a big pond (which is filled from another pond)
and there are docks in the pond… we were giving the kids swimming lessons today and on the dock, there was a HUGE… BEYOND HUGE black spider.
ive never seen anything like it.
the lifegaurd said that there are hundreds under the docks living in the air pockets…
could you please give me a clue about what kind of spider it could be so i can look up if it bites of anything like that.
if you have a lot of information feel free to email me at esherman_8890@ric.edu
sorry todd. that isnt it.. thanks for your help… it wasnt that intense.. but it was arround that size.
it looked as big as a turantula but not furry at all.
3 Comments
March 10th, 2010 at 2:56 am
It *might* be a purseweb spider. They are relatives of the tarantulas (suborder Mygalomorphae). You can tell them because, like tarantulas, they have huge chelicerae that fold forward, instead of sideways in a pinching motion like most other spiders (suborder Araneomorphae). I am not sure if they get up north to RI though.
Does it look like this?
http://bugguide.net/node/view/116685
None of them are considered harmful to humans, although I have heard they have really powerful fangs that can go through shoes. The venom is weak to us though.
Does the thumbs down mean no?
March 10th, 2010 at 3:44 am
It is better that you take a look at these sites to be sure which spider you saw -
http://www.spideridentification.org/
http://www.badspiderbites.com/spider-identification/
http://www.aboutbugsbugsbugs.com/spiders/biology.htm
http://www.pesticide.org/spiders.html
March 10th, 2010 at 3:47 am
This is a great site for identifying insects-go to this page-
http://bugguide.net/node/view/4/bgpage
Go to the spider page and then try clicking on
Infraorder Mygalomorphae – Mygalomorphs
which apparently are not “true” spiders, though they look like them to me. There are some very big, scary-looking ones there.
PS-I live in RI, too. When people out west confuse it with Long Island, I say “no, it’s a state… go to New York and hang a left.” (how can you not have at least HEARD of it? there are only fifty darn states)