Common House Spider
Parasteatoda tepidariorum (Koch, 1841)

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Troglophile

Realm

Terrestrial

Distribution

Range

Known from 28 counties across seven states.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia

Counties

Alabama

Calhoun, Colbert, Lauderdale, Madison, Marshall, Morgan

Arkansas

Randolph

Georgia

Bartow, Catoosa, Dade, Gordon, Polk, Walker

Illinois

Calhoun, Carroll, Greene, Hardin, Jo Daviess, La Salle, Monroe, Pike

Kentucky

Larue, Pulaski

Tennessee

Fentress, Grundy, Van Buren, Warren

Virginia

Lee

Conservation and management

NatureServe

GNR Unranked

National ranks

Canada

NNA

United States

NNR

Subnational ranks

Nova Scotia

SNA Not Applicable

Saskatchewan

SNA Not Applicable

Alberta

SNA Not Applicable

Newfoundland and Labrador

SNA Not Applicable

Manitoba

SNA Not Applicable

Ontario

SNA Not Applicable

Quebec

SNA Not Applicable

Prince Edward Island

SNA Not Applicable

British Columbia

SNA Not Applicable

Alabama

SNR Unranked

Indiana

S5 Secure

Minnesota

SNR Unranked

Illinois

SNR Unranked

South Carolina

SNR Unranked

Oklahoma

SNR Unranked

Montana

SNR Unranked

West Virginia

SNR Unranked

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act

References

• Archer, A.F. 1940. Some cave spiders of Alabama. Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science 12: 28.
• Archer, A.F. 1946. The Theridiidae or comb-footed spiders of Alabama. Paper of the Alabama Museum of Natural History 22: 1–67.
• Lewis, J.J., Moss, P., Tecic, D. & Nelson, M.E. 2003. A conservation focused inventory of subterranean invertebrates of the southwestern Illinois karst. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 65: 9–21.
• Lewis, J.J. 2004. Interstate 66 karst faunal study. Environmental Impact Statement. 17 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. 2005. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
• McDaniel, V.R., Paige, K.N. & Tumlison, C.R. 1979. Cave fauna of Arkansas: additional invertebrate and vertebrate records. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science 33: 84–85. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol33/iss1/35.
• Niemiller, M.L., Maxwell, E. & Higgs, J.P. 2024. A biological inventory of Sinking Spring Cave at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Larue County, Kentucky, USA. U.S. National Park Service, Hodgenville, Kentucky, USA. 21 pp.
• Niemiller, M.L., Anderson, C.L., Maxwell, E.C., Midgette, H., Quering, C., Richards, M., Wilson, K. & Wirwa, N. 2025. A noteworthy range extension of the federally endangered Alabama Cave Shrimp (Palaemonias alabamae) south of the Tennessee River in northern Alabama. Southeastern Naturalist 24: N47-N58. doi:10.1656/058.024.0403
• Peck, S.B. & Lewis, J.J. 1978. Zoogeography and evolution of the subterranean invertebrate faunas of Illinois and southeastern Missouri. National Speleological Society Bulletin 40: 39–63.
• Peck, S.B. 1988. A review of the cave fauna of Canada, and the composition and ecology of the invertebrate fauna of caves and mines in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66: 1197–1213. doi:10.1139/z88-176
• Peck, S.B. 1989. The cave fauna of Alabama. Part I. The terrestrial invertebrates (excluding insects). National Speleological Society Bulletin 51: 11–33.
• Peck, S.B. & Christiansen, K. 1990. Evolution and zoogeography of the invertebrate cave faunas of the Driftless Area of the upper Mississippi River Valley of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, U.S.A. Canadian Journal of Zoology 68: 73–88. doi:10.1139/z90-012
• Reeves, W.K., Jensen, J.B. & Ozier, J.C. 2000. New faunal and fungal records from caves in Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 62: 169–179. https://caves.org/wp-content/uploads/Publications/JCKS/v62/v62n3-Reeves.pdf.
• Trumbore, L.E., Reynolds, R.J., Thomas, S.C., Orndorff, W., Cramphorn, B., Gladstone, N.S., Harden, C.W., Lewis, J.J., Milne, M.A., Ober, K.A., Shear, W.A., Stephen, C.D.R. & Zigler, K.S. 2024. Cave biodiversity of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 86: 13–24. doi:10.4311/2022LSC0116
• Webb, D.W., Taylor, S.J. & Krejca, J.K. 1993. The biological resources of Illinois caves and other subterranean environments. Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois, USA. 143 pp.
• Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N., Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. & Cressler, A. 2020. Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 82: 125–167. doi:10.4311/2019LSC0125

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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