[mynah]

They frequent the flat in Gauteng, South Africa, where a friend of mine lives, much to her dismay. (She'd especially like to know if its venomous.) The specimen here is about 4 cm long.

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by mynah

They frequent the flat in Gauteng, South Africa, where a friend of mine lives, much to her dismay. (She'd especially like to know if its venomous.) The specimen here is about 4 cm long.

Well It's obviously an arachnid, a spider, maybe in the trap door spider family. It closely resembles a spider we have here in the South East US, the garage at my old house was full of them. Possibly one of these spiders...


Eresidae (velvet spiders, social spiders, buck-spoor spiders)

[Ganoderma]

when ID'ing spiders, a pic of the abdomen is not incredibly helpful.

eyes, leg closeups, pedipalps etc...actually basically everything ahead of the arse, is the most important

[TheBigDog]

Originally Posted by mynah

They frequent the flat in Gauteng, South Africa, where a friend of mine lives, much to her dismay. (She'd especially like to know if its venomous.) The specimen here is about 4 cm long.

I am pretty confident that all spiders are poisonous. The question becomes is it dangerous to humans. In most regions the "dangerous" varieties are well documented, so if you don't know, and none of your neighbors know, then you are probably not in danger. Be careful anyway.

Bill

[jab2]

The photo is not really good enough for ID purposes, but I would say it is a Velvet Spider of the family Eresidae.

South African Spiders by Martin R. Filmer has this to say:

The eresids are corpulent spiders, with the carapace bluntly rounded in front, and they usually have thick, short legs. They all possess a cribellum and calamistrum. The median eyes are set close to each other, while both pairs of lateral eyes are set far apart from them. There is usually sexual dimorphism, with the males being smaller and different in colour. Behaviourally, the erisids can be both arboreal and terrestrial.

being of mono colour, while most genera are decorative, I would say it belongs to the genus Gandanomeno (Common Velvet Spiders)

Again from South African Spiders by Martin R. Filmer:

Spiders of the Gandanomeno genus are black or dark brown to reddish-brown and are covered in fine hairs, giving them a velvety appearance. The cephalic area in both males and females is weakly raised, with the fovea present as a circular pit. It has a cribellum which is bipartite. Gandenomeno is usually found under loose bark or in crevices and old knot holes of trees. They build a funnel like web into a crevice, with the entrance to the web sheltered under a tarpaulin-like, flat and solid web, anchored to the substrate by scalloped, tough, silken threads.

Contrary to TheBigDog's believe, they are not poisonous.

Oh, and the book say 12-30mm in size.

Mynah, I would love you to test this info against your friend's pets and report back. Well only the looks, not the poisonous part.

By the way, do your friend has any plant growth near her windows. Your weather in Gauteng was a bit weird lately, so they might be attracted to a cooler environment indoors.

[mynah]

Thanks everyone - evidence seems quite conclusive! I'll ask my friend if she'll send a full frontal close-up, but am not sure she'll be willing to comply. (Her 4 cm estimate may be a bit excessive, but we all know what fear can do...)

[TheBigDog]

Velvet spider. Here is a link with a good picture of a similar specimen. TrekNature | Waiting for the bugs Photo
I stand by them being venomous, but I find no indication that they are among those spiders who are a danger to humans.

Have fun!

Bill

[ughaibu]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

I stand by them being venomous, but I find no indication that they are among those spiders who are a danger to humans.

As I understand it, all spiders are venomous but only a few can pierce human skin. So, if you have open sores, I guess any house spider could be unpleasant. Trivia question, what is the common name of the UK's only capably venomous spider?

[alexander]

you are talking about false widows, no? (steatoda nobilis)

its not the only one, one of very very few, but probably the most wide-sread species that can cause a pretty painful bite...

other then that, it is not unlikely that one may see a brown recluse, as they are spread so widely around the world, but yeah false widow would be the one you are referring to

[ughaibu]

Originally Posted by alexander

you are talking about false widows, no? (steatoda nobilis)

Me? I know it as a Hampton Court spider. There's no Google result so I cant check the latin name with yours.