Spiders in Ohio

It is not surprising to know that hundreds of unique spider species can be found in many different countries across the globe. Experts approximate that there are about 500 thousand kinds of spiders all over the world. Of this tremendous number, only 41 thousand have been named and identify. Thus, if you really look into it, you can make a long list of the different spiders that can be found in different habitats whether these habitats are in deserts, waste lands or the tropics. In most cases, spiders are harmless although they might look to be the contrary of that. In Ohio for example, majority of all the spiders found there are completely harmless to humans. If you are in Ohio, you might be interested to identify spiders by yourself. Simply follow the steps provided below to learn how to identify spiders that inhabit in Ohio.

1. If you want to find a crab spider, simply look in your garden (or your neighbour's garden if you don't have your own). These spiders normally stay under flower petals and tree barks. They also like to crawl around fruits so you might as well find them in fruit trees. Crab spiders can adapt to the color of their environment so expect to see a yellowish crab spider under a yellow flower and so on.

2. You will also find it easier to identify a spider by identifying first if it spins a web. In many cases, spinning spiders in Ohio are orb weavers. The most common ones are the humped orb weaver, golden orb weaver and the garden orb weaver. These spiders weave very sticky webs which they use to catch prey. They spin their webs between trees where most of the insects fly.

3. You can also find very small spiders in Ohio. These spiders spin very unusual webs. These webs are very different to the regular webs that we see. These spiders are called Sheet Weaver Spiders and they weave their webs into the shape of a cone composed of several layers. The cone-like web is very effective in catching prey that are bigger that the spiders. These spiders are only a fourth of an inch big so they depend greatly on their webs to catch food for them.

4. Ground spiders are also very common in Ohio. These spiders can be recognized by the appearance of their spinnerets or those "pincers" that they use to weave their webs. Their spinnerets are barrel-shaped and their middle eyes are not circular, instead the eyes are narrow. The color of most ground spiders are black, pink, brown, grey or a combination of these colors.

5. Jumping spiders are quite common in Ohio too, just like wolf spiders are. These spiders prefer to live in shrubbery areas or in forests. However, they can also live in deserts and in a many other types of environments around Ohio and in many parts of the United States. Wolf spiders can be identified by the alignment of their eyes. They have eight eyes like all other spiders by these eyes are set in different rows. This unusual placement of their eyes gives them very excellent vision. These spiders can most easy to identify when they are carrying their eggs. Unlike most spider species, these spiders carry their eggs with them through an egg sac attached to their bodies. Thus, if you see a spider that has an egg sac attached to its body, then there is a high possibility that it is a wolf spider. Moreover, the spider is usually brown in color with orange markings on its back.

Like what has been said earlier in this article, there are so many other spiders in Ohio. The more common ones are already given above, but if you want to know more about the spiders that live in Ohio, you might want to refer to the list below. The list is obtained from the data gathered by the Ohio State University. This list has been published for a couple of times already. The first publication was in 1994. The original list contains 624 species. But for the purposes of this article, we will just list down a portion of this actual number. (Source: http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu)


Antrodiaetidae - The common name for this spider group is Folding Door. There are two spiders in Ohio that belong to this group.

Atypidae - Three spiders have been discovered in Ohio to belong to this group. These spiders are more commonly called as Purse Web.

Ctenizidae - So far, only one spider has been found in Ohio to belong in this group. The common name for this spider is Trap Door.

Agelenidae - More commonly known as Funnel Webbers. Six of these have been found in Ohio.

Amaurobiidae - Even with 10 spiders belonging to this group, Amaurobiidae or Hackledmesh Weavers are still not very common in Ohio.

Anyphaenidae - Also known as Ghost Spiders. There are seven spiders in Ohio that are classified as Ghost Spiders.

Araneidae - The common name for his groups is Orb Weaver and this group ranks as the third largest group with 57 members, it follows after Jumping Spiders with 76 which also follows after Dwarf Weavers with 83.

The other groups are listed below (scientific name first followed by their common names if there is any). Enclosed in the parentheses is the number of spiders belonging to that group.

Clubionidae/Sac spiders (13)
Corinnidae/Ground sac spiders (20)
Ctenidae/Wandering spiders (1)
Cybaeidae (2)
Dictynidae/Meshweb weavers (26)
Dysderidae/Dysderids (1)
Gnaphosidae/Ground spiders (43)
Hahniidae/Hahniids (7)
Erigoninae/Dwarf weavers (83)
Linyphiinae/Sheetweb weavers (46)
Liocranidae (2)
Lycosidae/Wolf spiders (56)
Mimetidae/Pirate spiders (6)
Miturgidae (3)
Mysmenidae/Dwarf cobweb spiders (2)
Nesticidae/Cave cobweb spiders (1)
Oecobiidae/Flatmesh weavers (2)
Oonopidae/Dwarf six-eyed spiders (1)
Oxyopidae/Lynx spiders (2)
Philodromidae/Philodromid crab spiders (16)
Pholcidae/Daddylongleg spiders (3)
Pisauridae/Nursery web spiders (8)
Salticidae/Jumping spiders (76)
Scytodidae/Spitting spiders (1)
Segestriidae/Segestriids (1)
Sicariidae/Six-eyed sicariid spiders (2)
Tengellidae (1)
Tetragnathidae/Long-jawed orbweavers (18)
Theridiidae/Cobweb weavers (56)
Theridiosomatidae/Ray orbweavers (1)
Thomisidae/Typical crab spiders (31)
Titanoecidae (2)
Uloboridae/Hackled orbweavers (3)
Zoridae/Zorids (1)
Zodariidae (1)