Species

Most spiders prefer living outdoors, but all too often, you may run across a few spiders that have found their way indoors in search of food and shelter. Learn more about the life cycles and habits of these 8-legged creepy crawlers that are commonly found in India.

Harvestman spider

(Phalangium opilio)

Appearance

• Adult – 1/8″– 3/8″ body. The upper body surface has light grey/brown pattern, the lower surface is typically cream.

Lifecycle

Only one batch of eggs is laid each year.

The females lay eggs in moist soil.

Habits

• They climb tree trunks or look for food on the ground.
• They feed on many soft bodied arthropods, including aphids, caterpillars, beetle larvae and small slugs.

Tarantulas

(Aphonopelma spp.)

Appearance

• Adult body length excluding legs is 1–5″ long. Most tarantulas have black or brown hairy bodies and legs but some species exhibit striking colours.

Lifecycle

• Mating season is in autumn. Incubation of the young takes 6-9 weeks, with each female producing 500-1000 eggs into a silken cocoon. The young leave their burrow after 2-3 weeks.
• Life span 25-40 years.

Habits

• Tarantulas prefer to live in dry, well-drained soil where they dig a burrow which is lined with silk webbing.

Wolf spider

(Trochosa ruricola)

Appearance

• Adult female: 5/16″; male: 1/4″. They are generally brown to grey in colour.

Lifecycle

• Wolf spider mothers carry their egg sacs around with them attached to spinnerets under the abdomen.
• When the young spiderlings hatch, they climb onto their mother’s back where they live for the first few weeks of life.

Habits

• They hunt at night but spend the day hidden amongst moss and decaying matter. 
• They live in a shallow burrow, with an open and unadorned entrance.

Yellow sac spider

(Cheiracanthium spp.)

Appearance

• Pale in colour, abdomen can be yellow or beige with a faint dark stripe running lengthwise.
• 1/4 to 3/8 inches long
• 4 pairs of legs, the 1st pair longer than the 4th.
• Eight similarly-sized dark eyes arranged in two horizontal rows.

Lifecycle

• A female produces around 5 egg sacs each with 30 to 48 eggs. The female may produce several egg masses during her lifetime.
• Approximately 30 percent of adult males get eaten by females after mating.

Habits

• Feeding — usually small insects.
• Location — they build a silken tube or sac (instead of a web) in a protected area which is used as their daytime retreat.
• Visibility — they emerge at night to look for food. They drop to the floor to seek cover when disturbed.