Woodlouse spider
The woodlouse spider has an orange-red front and legs and a shiny pale back end. It has only six eyes and really big jaws for its size. It hunts at night and its favourite food is woodlice.
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Fun facts
It does not spin a web to catch food. It walks around at night and hunts.
In the daytime it hides in a little silk tent in old wood or under a stone.
It is so strong for its size that it can even beat other spiders and centipedes.
The mother keeps up to 70 eggs in a silk bag and is thought to look after her babies.
Most asked questions about Woodlouse spider
?What does a woodlouse spider eat?
Mostly woodlice, but also other small crawling creatures like silverfish and earwigs.
?Where do woodlouse spiders live?
Under logs, rocks, bricks and plant pots in warm places, sometimes even in houses.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dysdera crocata
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Dysderidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Dysderidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Woodlouse hunter, Sowbug hunter, Pillbug hunter, Slater spider
Where the facts come from
- Woodlouse spider (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 Matthew Lindsey. CC BY 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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