Common stretch spider
The common stretch spider has a long, thin body and very long legs. When it gets scared, it lies flat along a grass stem and stretches its legs out straight, two pairs forwards and two pairs backwards. Then it looks just like a little stick.
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Fun facts
It can walk on top of water, and it is even faster there than on land.
In Britain it is one of the most common spiders of all.
Its egg sacs are covered in grey fluffy silk and look like a tiny bird dropping, so nobody wants to eat them.
It has been found high in the Rocky Mountains, right where the trees stop growing.
The baby spiders spend the winter tucked away and grow up in spring.
Most asked questions about Common stretch spider
?What does a stretch spider eat?
It eats small flying insects like mosquitoes, midges and moths that get caught in its web.
?Why is it called a stretch spider?
Because it stretches its long legs out straight along a stem to hide.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tetragnatha extensa
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Tetragnathidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Tetragnathidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Tetragnatha extensa (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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