Wood Spider
Everything You Need To Know About The Wood Spider
The wood spider is called falsely by many names and tends to have a smaller to larger cousin on just about every continent. Some confuse the wood spider with the potently venomous brown recluse spider, to which he bares no relation or similarity. He is also called the huntsman spider, which is a fair and just name, but he is neither aggressive toward humans nor extroverted in any way. He loves to flatten and squeeze into areas that a spider of his size aught not be able to, all in wait for a pesky insect or a dead animal to be detected within close range.
The wood spider, or huntsman, common to North America is but a speck as compared to the Japanese Giant Wood Spider, who can easily grow to 7 inches in length. This spider is also referred to as the golden silk orb weaver, and threads magnificent webs of up to 1 meter long between the trees of the deep forests there. His silk is the strongest of any other spider species, and is responsible for the capture of hapless birds and bats as a result. Some Australian stories tell of an aggressive and venomous monster wood spider that terrorizes humans and livestock alike. I feel proud, suddenly, of our harmless little huntsman.
The wood spider has legs which are double jointed, if you will. He has the unique ability to bend each of his legs both forward and backward at the center joint, giving him an agility and athleticism which is quite remarkable. As mentioned, he is not an aggressive spider, but can pack a potentially painful bite if startled or handled roughly. He enjoys cracks and crevasses if there is not barked wood in his immediate vicinity.
The wood spider that we know in North America does not spin webs as an adult, but becomes a vagrant hunter who takes shelter in a different place on an almost daily basis. He may wander into outbuildings and garages, but he never stays long.
The brown recluse spider is very different from the wood spider, in just about every way. As the wood spider is sometimes referred to as the brown wood spider, it is thought that the everyday arachnophobe may jumble the words around a bit out of panic and confusion, because the word brown is the only attribute that these two spiders share. The brown recluse is a bit more aggressive and less shy, though not prone to attacking humans without just cause due to disruptions or injuries. The wood spider will nearly never be caught rendering an egg sack in your basement.