Dust spider

Description:

Tegenaria atrica (atri - dark, feral, from atrium) is one of the biggest spiders of Central and Northern Europe. Females grow up to 1.8 cm, males up to 1.5 cm. Adult males can be found from July to October, adult females occur all year. In UK, it is colloquially referred to as the dust spider or the dustbunny spider for their fondness of building webs around dustbunnies under furniture or behind stock. The two sexes do not differ in coloration or markings. Its coloration is mainly dark brown. On its sternum is a lighter marking, with three light spots on each side. The opisthosoma features a lighter middle line with six "spots" on each side. In contrast to other species in the genus Tegenaria, T. atrica and the smaller T. picta have uniformly colored legs. In other species, the legs are annulated or spotted. In females, the legs are up to twice the body length, in males even three times. They are able to achieve speeds of up to 50 cm/s for short distances. Its eight eyes are of equal size and are arranged in two rows. As the eyes contain fewer than 400 visual cells, T. atrica can probably only distinguish light and dark. (Wiki)