SPIDERS OF CALIFORNIA




In 1979 Steve Johnson made a list of all spiders known from California. He had essentially unlimited literature resources as a graduate student of B. J. Kaston, and also benefited from the expert assistance of Wendell Icenogle. I began this website as by digitizing his list as reformatted by Donald Boe in 1989, with lab support form Rosemary Gillespie and coding assistance from Chris Seidel. As time permits I update the list using more recent publications and  personal communication from skilled collectors known to me.

HUZZAHS UNTO:  All those named above, Rick Vetter, Tom Prentice, Darrell Ubick, Joe Spagna, Pierre Paquin, Marshall Hedin, Blaine Hebert,

At the moment (Jan 4 2004), it's just a checklist annotated with county records and literature ref's.  Check back soon (or not so soon) for more recent collection records.  Check back later (or much later) and there may be images, maps, keys, who knows...

Please email me with any corrections or comments, but please do not email me about whether the spider laying eggs in your brain is poisonous until you've read the disclaimer at the bottom of the page.
anotherstevelew AT gemail DOT com
On each page, taxa are listed alphabetically by family, then genus, then species.

MYGALOMORPHAE
Updated (taxonomy only) August 2003
Antrodiaetidae; Ctenizidae; Cyrtaucheniidae; Mecicobothriidae; Nemesiidae; Theraphosidae

LOWER ARANEOMORPHAE
Updated (taxonomy only) August 2003
Caponiidae; Diguetidae; Dysderidae; Filistatidae; Hypochilidae; Leptonetidae; Mimetidae; Oecobiidae; Oonopidae; Pholcidae; Plectreuridae; Scytodidae; Segestriidae; Sicariidae; Telemidae

ORBICULARIAE
Anapidae; Araneidae; Linyphiidae; Mysmenidae; Nesticidae; Pimoidae; Tetragnathidae; Theridiidae; Uloboridae
LOWER (ie 3-clawed)RTA CLADE
Agelenidae; Amaurobiidae; Cybaeidae; Desidae; Dictynidae; Hahniidae; Lycosidae; Oxyopidae; Titanoecidae; Zodariidae
DIONYCHA (incl. all former clubionids)
Anyphaenidae, Clubionidae, Corinnidae, Gnaphosidae, Homalonychidae, Liocranidae, Mitugidae, Philodromidae, Prodidomidae, Salticidae, Sparassidae, Tengellidae, Thomisidae, Zoridae


BIBLIOGRAPHY -under construction. Email me if you need a reference before I get around to uploading it.  Or see Platnick's exhaustive World Spider Catalog bibliography.
LINKS:
Brown Recluse identification
Hobo Spider Identification
Spider Myths Site

International Society of Arachnology
American Arachnological Society
Spiders on the Tree of Life

The World Spider Catalog
Spiders of North America

Spiders of Baja California
Spiders of Los Angeles County


If you've found a spider in your yard/bathtub/laying-eggs-in-your-brain and you want to know what it is, you may find this website less helpful than you were hoping it would be. Most people who email me get this friendly and informative prefab response. It is not meant to stifle your curiosity, and you should by all means contact me if it is unsatisfying.