What kind of spider is this that landed on me when I was working in my booster pump shed?

[Arlen Holder]

What kind of spider is this that landed on me when I was working in my booster pump shed?

Is it a tarantula?

[rbowman]

Looks like one. It's a little early but in Arizona the males wander around looking for females in the fall. It's a little weird to be driving down the road and noticing a spider ambling across it. They can bite if provoked but they're usually docile.

[Arlen Holder]

I apologize for the lousy picture. I'll take another shot in the daylight tomorrow with better lighting.

It landed on my shoulder and was walking around, while I was hunched over my booster pump motor ... where when I realized what it was - I involuntarily screamed like a girl!

It's a primeval feeling - spiders and rattlers ... goes deep into the core.

When it fell off on the ground, I agree with you that it was pretty docile. I don't think it wanted to bite me at all.

Maybe it was what was eating this snail?

Where I've never seen a snail shell caught in a spider web in the air 3 feet off the ground and five inches from any wall or roof!

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Sat 18 Aug 2018 10:58:34p, Arlen Holder told us...

Given the size of that spider, it could probably carry that snail into its web rather easily.

[rbowman]

Probably. They aren't fussy and the big ones can even get mice and lizards. Other spiders are on the menu too so one well fed tarantula beats a tribe of brown recluses any day.

[hubops]

I did a google search for " spider identification " that returned several very good web sites - one was specifically for North America. ... then I got scared of the photos and had to stop. John T.

[hubops]

... ss s ss S P I D E R S !

John T.

[micky]

Amazing, isn't it. I did that once when I saw a mouse under the sink. Later I decided it was because I thought it was an enorrrrmous roach, and if I'd known it was a mouse, I wouldn't have screamed

So is it alive or dead in the photo?

Wonder Snail!!!

[micky]

LOL.

Arlen, where do you live, or wwhere were you when this happened.

[micky]

Once in high wchool looked out the window at a bush in front of our house and there was a big spider with long black legs and a big cream and pink body. I think it was cream colored with pink dots or lines.

3+ inches total across.

It stayed there for hours. I've never seen anything like it again, irl, a zoo, or the web.

[micky]

I looked at

North American Spiders It is said that some three-quarters of the human population is intimidated by spiders in one way or another - about 3,400 species reside in North America alone.

91 spiders but none that look anything like the one I saw I know spiders all have segmented bodies, but this one didn't seam to. It's body was what I think is called an oblate circle. A circle that is moved 20% to the side, so it's 20% longer than wide

Althoujgh maybe I'm forgetting parts nad it was shaped like this, even though the colors are all wrong:

BTW, I've never used the word oblate before and I'll give myself 3 points if I used it right, one point just for using it. I googled and I can't figure out if I used it right or not.

[micky]

I think maybe it is a tarantula:

[micky]

Not all spiders have segmented bodies, I realize.

Not Daddy Long-legs.

[Arlen Holder]

Silicon Valley.

Seems to be a California black tarantula (Aphonopelma eutylenum)

[Arlen Holder]

Very much alive. I gave it water and a few bugs today. It didn't eat the bugs. It's picky I guess. Or not hungry.

A friend snaps pictures of spiders so it's his. I just have to get it to him.

[micky]

I thought it was too cold there for that.

See what I know.