Common House Spider

Description:

The female's body is 6-8 mm in length with a legspan of 15-22 mm; the male is considerably smaller. There is some color variation in this spider ranging from patterned brown (shown) to patterned gray. Often found hanging upside down in its web at night, but retreats to a lair during the day.

Habitat:

Often found around human habitations.

Notes:

After photographing this spider for about a half hour, I noticed that she was trying to cast a silk thread. I blew gently on her and she ran to the top of the sprig on which I had placed her, and spun out a loop of silk (first photo). It caught on a leaf in the background whereupon she anchored her end and then ran across it. Fascinating stuff....