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Marney (Login Marneyman)
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Posted Jul 6, 2009 5:01 PM
"Excellent photos! Many thanks. If by chance you have higher resolution versions you can send, please do so. The image quality is great until I try to enlarge them to examine the eye arrangement, and at that point they blur out to the point the eyes cannot be seen.
The spider in your photo is a funnel-web weaver in the family Agelenidae, which has nine genera and 85 species in North America. Their bodies look a lot like those of the amaurobiids and the lycosids, neither of which build the funnel-web retreats of the agelenids. Unfortunately, in order to identify to genus and species I will have to examine the eyes, the spinnerets, and the palps in close detail, as the minutiae of those anatomical structures are critically definitive.
The agelenids are not considered dangerous to man, with one exception. One species of the agelenid genus Tegenaria, the hobo spider (Tegenaria agrestis), is thought by some to possess a venom capable of producing necrotic lesions similar to those of the brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa). This claim is strongly disputed by many scientific investigators, who note that the species was accidentally introduced to the Pacific Northwest from Europe, and in its native habitat it is never known to produce necrotic lesions in man. In any case, this species is not represented in Texas."
I feel somewhat comforted that the Sydney Funnelweb has not found it's way to the Houston area.
If it did, I have no doubt it would flourish and kill us all.
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