The Urban Pantheist

Most often we see these spiders tucked back in the mouth of the funnel (sometimes these are called funnel spiders) of their web, and moment we take notice they disappear back into the safety of the darkness. For whatever reason this Agelenid* spider was out in the open on our shed. The funnel opens out onto a horizontal sheet (sometimes these are called sheet web spiders) often on a man-made object, a hedge, or on the grass (sometimes these are called grass spiders).


Large males, like this one, are conspicuous when they enter houses roaming around looking for females. When a "HUGE" spider is reported to me (in New England), I narrow down whether it is a nursery web spider, a Carolina wolf spider, or a wandering male Agelenid.

* Charles Walckenaer, the original author of Agelena, did not elaborate on the meaning of the word and there are too many speculations to give anything definite here

This funnel-weaving grass spider (and her egg mass) were hiding in a fold in the picnic table tablecloth. She was a small wonder, but big enough to inspire bursts of profanity from the wife and I.


The underside of a tiny mushroom, perhaps a Mycena.


An unknown-to-me fungal growth, emerging as dots along the grains of the smooth bark of a cut Norway maple log.

This funnel-weaving grass spider (Probably Agelenopsissp.) has built its web on the back of the shed, positioning the narrow part of the tunnel under a loose piece of sheet metal. Other spiders of this type are all around the yard--in the rock wall by the driveway, the tall weeds along the small yard fence, and so on.

If you are compiling a list of creatures that live around people and their buildings, this spider is a reliable entry. It is unreliable, however, when it comes to assigning it a common name. I have chosen one that I previously rejected as too cumbersome because it avoids confusion with many other spiders, including Australia's deadly funnel web spider. The funnel-weaving grass spider spins a sheet-like horizontal web with a narrow tunnel hidden in the back. The spider waits in the tunnel for a vibration indicating an insect has fallen in the trap. One imagines that crickets and grasshoppers, flinging themselves into the air willy-nilly, are common prey. Blundering flies, moths, and caddisflies are likely as well.

A slavemaking ant placed into this web was investigated, then deliberately ignored by the spider. I felt a little bad about the trapped ant, but only a little.


"Help meee! YOU BASTARD!"

This type of spider was 365 urban species #265, and was in the Urban Nature Picture for September 3, 2010.

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: Park bench, Olmsted park, Brookline.

Funnel web spider Agelenopsis naevia

Funnel web spiders are some of the most commonly encountered predators in the urban ecosystem. Their webs are horizontal sheets, which catch insects when they drop from above, or stumble into them. The spider hides in a silken tube at the back of the sheet, waiting to feel the vibrations of the trapped prey. When it happens the spider darts out, delivers a paralyzing bite, and drags the insect back into the tube to be consumed in concealment.

There are dozens of spider species that weave funnel webs, varying by geography, and by where they prefer to spin their webs. Some species are known to prefer indoor spaces, while others tend to choose fields and lawns. Hedges and trees are used, and a variety of man-made structures. Often the spider will incorporate a natural or man-made cavity into the web, spinning their tubes into the pipes of a chain-link fence or the hollows of a tree. A. naevia is a common species in New England, sometimes given the common name "grass spider."