Can anyone identify this spider?

Question

Its body is over an inch long, black or dark brown, with yellow stripes and yellow 'feet'. My daughter climbed into a little concrete bunker on a road-side in Italy last week and immediately screamed to be helped back out having come face-to-face with one. How close a call was it? Thanks.

Answer 1

Sorry, but it really isn't possible to tell from the description you gave, not that it was a bad description. The problem is that that could descripe many different spiders. I'm personally not very familier with spiders from Italy anyways. But you might try getting a field guide at a library or going online and looking at random pictures. If you could post a picture of what it looked like, it would help, but even then it is not possible to identify it without a doubt (you have to look at the reproductive organs for that).

As to how dangerous it was, it is unlikely that it was to bad. All spiders do have venom (well, there is one family of spiders that is an exception to that, but it's pretty rare, so yeah). Anyways, most spiders will not bite unless they have to, because venom is costly to make. Even if they do bite, the chances that it is deadly is very low. Most spiders (alergic reactions out of the picture) have venom about as bad as a bee sting. But like I said, there is no way to be sure from the description.

Oh, and the answer above mine gave the type I would guess if I had to, but it is just a guess.

Answer 2

Totally depends on where you live!! I just recently had a spider that matches that description, but live in MA. I had a "Garden Spider" more specifically a Araneus diadematus. If you use a search engine you can usually locate a spider key. Pictures are the only way to identify your critter.

Most spiders are harmless. I am not a spider person at all, meaning I don't like them anywhere near me or my property! My Araneus diadematus had babies, so it seems my never ending task is to find all of it's babies and exterminate them as well.

These Garden Spiders are pretty big. They do have a Black and Yellow Garden Spider, you may want to check it out. Type it into a search engine so you can see pictures.

If that is not it, type in your description in the Yahoo! Search, and use the image tab to scroll through pictures. That is how I found mine!!

Good luck!!

Answer 3

My best answer is probably a Black and Yellow Argiope or the Argiope Aurantia. It is a common garden spider and is not harmful to humans but are very helpful.due to their consumption of large quantities of annoying insects such as flies mosquitos, and aphids. They seem dangerous due to their large size which is about like you described as 1 inch in body length. Next time take a moment to observe the spider it is actually very beautiful. They create zig zag patterns in their webs and use the yellow stripes on their backs to blend in with the web.