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Tegenaria & Hobo Spiders

• Hobo spiders lack the coloured bands found on many spiders of the Agelenidae family where the leg joints meet.
• The abdomen has chevron (V-shaped) patterns (possibly many of them) down the middle, with the chevrons pointing towards the head.
• Like other funnel spiders, hobo spiders have two spinnerets extending from the bottom of the abdomen.
• Hobo spiders have a light stripe running down the middle of the sternum. If the spider instead has three or four pairs of light spots on the lateral portions of the sternum, then it is one of the other two related Tegenaria species. However absence of spots is not conclusive proof that the spider is a hobo spider, since the spots on other Tegenaria species may be extremely faint and not readily visible.
• Hobo spiders do not have two distinct longitudinal dark stripes on the top side of the cephalothorax, instead showing indistinct or diffused patterns. Washington spiders with distinct dark stripes include spiders from the genuses Agelenopsis and Hololena and possibly some wolf spiders. (These spiders do not have common names.)

For full info on hobo spiders and their bites please go to hobospider.org. Please choose a section below.

Widow Spiders

TEGENARIA

Hobo Spiders are brown and measure roughly 12 to 18 mm in length.  Their legs show no distinct rings and have short hairs.  Their abdomens have several chevron shaped markings.  Males are distinctively different from females in that they have two large palps that look like boxing gloves.  These palps are often mistaken for fangs or venom sacs, but they are in fact the male genitalia.  The females also have these palps, but the ends are not 'swollen' as they are on the males.  Females tend to have a larger abdomen when compared to males. The hobo spider, Tegenaria agrestis, is a moderately large spider of the family Agelenidae which is indigenous to western Europe that was introduced into the north western United States (Port of Seattle) sometime before the 1930's. The means of the spiders' introduction into the United States was almost certainly commercial shipping vessels carrying cargo originating from agricultural areas of Europe. In its native Europe the hobo spider is a resident of fields, rarely entering human habitations due to the presence of major competitors, particularly the giant house spider, Tegenaria duellica, which is a common resident of houses and other man-made structures in Europe; thus, human contacts with the hobo spider are uncommon in Europe. In the United States however, the hobo spider rapidly adapted to living in urban areas, and without the widespread presence of a dominant competitor, became abundant and began to extend its range; by 1968 it had become established as far east as Spokane, Washington and Moscow, Idaho, and as far south as Corvallis, Oregon. The reason hobo spiders have a reputation for being so aggressive is because they have very poor eye sight and have to aggressively attack their prey to catch it. Their web is not sticky either which makes it harder for them to catch prey. Therefore with their poor eye sight, they think humans or anything that moves probably, are prey and attack. In around 50% of bites, no venom is injected so their reputation is probable overrated too. However when it is injected, necrosis occurs and the resulting wound can take years to heal with much skin being eaten away! hobospider.org
Please note that not all the identifications below may be correct as hobo spiders are very hard to identify positively. Check out Rick Vetter's ID sheet for more info.

26 August, 2011:
i have attached a picture of a Giant House Spider/ Hobo Spider (i know its incredibly hard to tell the difference between the two aside from in some examples of a giant house spider u can find stripes on the legs) that i figured u might enjoy for your website. i am terrified by spiders but got very interested in researching them when my toddler started waking up with distinct spider bites on her (this has even happened when she was in my bed and i have NEVER been bit). Giant House Spiders are recorded as being non-aggressive but there is something in my daughter they like...this big boy was a busted culprit which i was not able to catch (way too fast for me, i read they are one of the fastest spiders in the world) but i was barely able to snap this pic when i had him cornered. i suspect that she gets bit by the males during mating season (i read somewhere that this time of year the males tend to wander a lot looking for potential mates and for 2 years now she has had these bites appear in only a 2 month span) thank you very much for having that website. it has been one of my faves for looking up comparison pics and information -Jae K

14 August, 2011:
Hi Glen, I live in Olympia, Washington (USA). Thanks, Briaf

16 July, 2011:
Just wondering If you could identify this spider, it looks like the one that I woke up to find on my bedroom ceiling :) thanks x

24 June, 2011:
Hello there. My name is Sarah and I live in Ontario, Canada. I found these two spiders in my bathroom today and I was wondering what they are. Thank you for any help you can provide. The first 2 pics are of one spider and the other 3 pics are of the second spider.

9 August, 2009:
Hello, I live in Portland, OR and have TONS of these spiders (pic attached) in my finished basement. We think they are either hobo spiders (hopefully not) or giant house spiders. We have been seeing them since late spring and throughout this summer. Lately, it has been quite hot outside and now we are seeing what appear to be that same type of spider only now they are huge. I have found 5 in our house in the last two days all of which were at least 2 inches in diameter, and have seen at least 75 of varying sizes total over the past two months. It's making us a little uneasy not knowing whether or not they are poisonous. I have attached a photo for your reference. Please help! Thanks!

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1 August, 2009:
Hi Glen! I live between the Puget Sound and the Cascade mountains in Washington. I think my daughter got bit by a spider last night and her hand has a big welt - do you think this could be a hobo spider? Thank you!! Tammy

9 July, 2009:
Either it got back in or I found another one. This one was brown with the same markings. I could swear the first one was green, even my son said it was green, but we were also looking at it through a glass in poor lighting. This time it was on the curtain right by the foot of my bed. I'll try to see if I can get the photos attached. They are not great, but hopefully they work. The pic with the spider in the glass... the mouth of the glass is just under 3 1/2 inches wide. The glass also has a bubble design which distorts the image of the spider a little. Can you tell what it is? The next time it gets back in, should I put it outside again, or should I be getting rid of it? Thank you. Johanna

5 May, 2009:
Hello, I found this spider in my garage right next to the garage door opener. I have seen them in the house and I am a bit concerned because I have two small children. Can you please tell me what kind of spider this is? I live in the Seattle area. Thanks michael

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We found it on Anderson Island in Tacoma, Washington. And yes, the pediapalps are larger on the ends, look more like legs than anything. It’s 2.5” across span to span and about 1.5” in length.

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Reply: It's a bit hard to tell from these photos but this could be a hobo spider. Hobo spiders don't have very hairy legs like other tegenaria species and have no banding on them.  It could also could be tegenaria gigantea, the giant house spider which is in the same species.
27 December, 2007:
I found this very scary looking Spider in my bedroom by my bed. I think it looks an awful lot like a Hobo Spider but wanted another opinion and would appreciate if you would give me a bit of input. I have included two large pics, and you are most welcome to use them if
you so desire. Paul

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5 August, 2007:
A few nights ago, I found an unusually large spider in my bathroom. Iʼve been looking around, doing some research, and happened upon your website. My spider has the appearance of a Hobo Spider. That would make sense, seeing as I live in a city just outside of Seattle. I would estimate about 4 to 5 inches from leg to leg. I tried my hardest to get a closer picture, but this sucker moved very quickly. I was lucky to get even on shot.If you could try to ID this little bugger, and let me know what you think, thatʼd be great. Thanks, Zach
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25 July, 2006:

11 June, 2006:

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28 February, 2006:
Hi Could you mabye give me a idea what kind of spider this is! I live in Oregon! Josiah p.s. I love your site! p.s. My e-mail is loziers@peoplepc.com

Reply: Tegenaria agrestis is commonly known as the hobo spiders and their bites can be quite bad become very infected with the skin necrotizing.  However not all bites have poison injected, many are dry and this does then not occur.
5 October, 2005:
Dear Glen
Some close friends said they found this spider on their stairs and weren't so comfortable with it in there house. strait away i new it was A Tegenaria agrestis I was wondering how bad the bite was although i've been bitten by many venomous spider and spiders that cause a blister such as the Argiope bruennichi so please tell me how venomous it is.

Reply: This is a hobo spider
1 September, 2005:
Dear Glen, Thanks for posting my photos on your website!  Today I discovered a Tegenaria spider lurking in the garage. It was very happy to be released from the photo-session in my bug-viewer. Here are the pictures:
Kind regards,
Rita