Long-bodied Cellar Spider

Natural Habitat

Typically found in undisturbed, dark, and damp areas such as cellars, basements, crawl spaces, sheds, and corners of rooms. They often build irregular, messy webs in these locations.

Diet & Feeding

Mainly preys on other insects and spiders. They are known to hunt and eat other spiders, including venomous ones like recluses and black widows, by shaking their web to entangle the prey. They also consume flies, mosquitoes, and other small arthropods.

Behavior Patterns

They build loose, irregular, three-dimensional webs, often in corners. When disturbed, they typically vibrate their body rapidly in their web, making themselves appear blurry to predators, or they may drop from the web. They are nocturnal hunters and are generally quite docile.

Risks & Benefits

Generally considered harmless to humans. Their fangs are too small to easily penetrate human skin, and their venom is not medically significant. They are beneficial as natural pest control, as they prey on various insects and even other spiders that might be considered pests (e.g., mosquitoes, flies, and potentially venomous spiders like black widows or brown recluse spiders if present in the same habitat).

Identified on: 9/4/2025