Our next door neighbor has planted his bank along the road with blue rug juniper. The other morning when I drove by, I noticed that these junipers were covered with a patchwork of spider webs. It was really neat looking and I had to stop to snap a few pics with my phone. Actually several of our neighbors have landscaped the roadside bank with these low growing junipers and as I drove further down, I saw that all of them were splattered with these spider webs. The early morning dew really made them stand out. Kinda cool looking!
The spiders that build these interesting webs belong to a group called funnel weavers or grass spiders (Family Agelenidae). As the name implies, they build webs that consist of a flat sheet of webbing with a funnel leading downward near the center. The webs are not sticky and are fairly densely woven. They are usually oriented horizontally and are commonly found on top of turfgrass (hence the common name grass spider), on top of dense shrubbery, among rocks, and in the corners of buildings. I find them on my porch all the time.
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Webs that are built on the lawn and shrubbery become very obvious and are quite striking in the early morning when they are covered with dew. Often you will see large numbers of them covering an area, especially on a lawn.
The webs of funnel weaving spiders are quite different from the webs spun by orb weavers like the large black and yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia). Those beautiful webs have an intricate open weave and are generally oriented perpendicular to the ground. They also include sticky strands and are usually located higher up to be in the path of flying insects.
The funnel webs are densely woven and located parallel to the ground. They vary in size but can be quite large, sometimes as wide as 3 feet. The biggest ones I saw on these junipers were about 18″ wide. The funnel was normally located near the center of these expansive sheets of silk but in a few cases it was near the edge. This funnel creates a lair and hiding place for the spider. It can be quite long and is angled downward into the substrate below; either into dense foliage, between grass blades, or into cracks between stones.
Only the female spider of this species is capable of creating a web. The spiders themselves are not often seen because they are normally hiding in the funnel waiting for prey items to wander onto the sheet part of the web. When she feels a vibration on the web, she darts out of the funnel ready to attack. You can sometimes coax them out by gently tapping on the sheet part of the web. I tried this that morning but I guess it was either too cold or she wasn’t fooled by my antics!
Funnel web spiders often build their webs on the top of beautifully manicured hedges of boxwood, yew, and other dense evergreen shrubs. Normally the webs blend into the foliage pretty well and aren’t particularly noticeable except when covered with dew or after a light rain. Then, as I said before, they become quite obvious. I’m sure that the webs I photographed on the rug juniper had been there for a while but I didn’t notice them until that dewy fall morning.
Spiders of all kinds seem to become more active in the late summer and fall. Starting in August we normally have to hold our harvest baskets in front of us to block the spider webs as we walk down the wooded path to the vegetable garden.
I’m happy to have these spiders in and around my gardens though because they do their part to eliminate many of the insect pests that attack my plants!
So cut these critters some slack this fall! They are normally shy and non-aggressive and happy to be left alone.
And – besides they are efficient little predators!
The Orb weavers usually catch me.
Bill Bruce
I have these on my boxwood . Thanks for the information. I will just ignore the webs. I thought it was something that would kill the boxwood. I am glad to know it is ok.
I was sad to see the political ad in your garden blog….
So sorry!! I have no control over what ads may show up there! I would rather that no ads display at all – if I had a choice!