Kukulcania hibernalis, the Southern House Spider is a large brown spider that can be found throughout the Southern United States, Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Southern House Spider Description
The southern house spider has a dark brown body and legs. Due to its size and coloration, the southern house spider is often mistaken for the more dangerous brown recluse spider. However, the southern house spider does not have the iconic violin shaped pattern on its back like the brown recluse does.
Also, the abdomen of the southern house spider is covered with fine hairs.
Size
Both male and female southern house spiders are about the same size. Including their legs, they can grow up to two inches (5 cm).
Web
The southern house spider is part of the family Filistatidae, commonly called crevice weavers. Instead of spinning webs in the open, they build their webs in crevices in the ground. The female southern house spider is hardly ever seen since it spends most of its life inside the crevices.
Bite
The bite of the southern house spider does not have any dangerous effects for humans or larger pets. It may cause some local swelling and minor localized pain.
Kukulcania hibernalis scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Infraorder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Filistatidae
- Genus: Kukulcania
- Species: Kukulcania hibernalis
Kukulcania hibernalis Distribution in the US
As its name suggests, the Southern House Spider occurs in the Southern states of the US as well as in Central and South America. In the US, the Southern House spider can be found in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
I just saw that exact same spider in the side of my house what do I do?
Hi, if you only see one spider, you can just try to catch it with a paper and a glass jar and get it outside. If you have a larger number of spiders inside your house, you can try to get rid of them with a natural peppermint repellent (see information here: Peppermint Oil Spray for Spiders).
Hello, I have two spiders outside my bedroom window that looks like the southern house spider I don’t know, however they have made webs like funnels. They are about 2 inches in size and they are either dark dark brown or black with hair. Any ideas about what they are ?
Hi Stacey, do you have a picture of your spiders? If yes, you can upload it here directly to the comment and we can have a look. It’s more likely some kind of trap-door spider or a funnel weaver since Southern house spiders hardly ever spin their webs in the open.
Thanks
USAspiders