I found this large hairy beast of a spider on the floor near my tv set early this morning. Quite a few of these manage to find their way into the house this time of year, but especially in the autumn. It is called the Large House Spider Tegenaria sp (atrica group), and is a male. I don’t normally take photos of my subjects in pots and things, but these move like greased lightning. A blur of legs and they are gone! I have included a teaspoon in the above image to give an idea of scale and just how big these spiders can get. And there are bigger ones than this one out there!
This group of Large House Spiders has gone through a recent change. T.gigantea, T.saeva and T.atrica have been collectively reclassified as Eratigena atrica, and although this is valid all around the world, the British Arachnological Society doesn’t accept it as yet, if ever. So Tegenaria sp (atrica group) it is.
Below is one good image I manged to get as I placed him in the garden. He played statues for just a short while before, well … all legs in a blur and he was gone!
August 2017. Staffordshire, England.
Nature Journeys 