Spider

Like fungi, spiders can be difficult to identify, often requiring dissection under a microscope. And I've yet to discover a good field guide.

BugGuide is helpful, but at times cumbersome to use. Especially if you don't know where to start. There is the helpful ID Request feature. But often the 'bug' is only identified to family or if lucky, genus. This is no fault of the helpful volunteer identifiers. Rather, it is the nature of the problem.

As is the case with this spider, which I was able, using BugGuide, to narrow down to the Family Agelenidae, the Funnel Weavers (of which we saw many on our Batona Trail treks).

I came upon it when cleaning out the bird boxen about the yard. It did not appear pleased at my efforts. Happily living inside a bluebird box, only ever used by Carolina Chickadees, that it was sharing with some wasps.

I posted these two images to BugGuide using the aforementioned ID Request feature. And one of the helpful folks who volunteer their time further narrowed it down to the Genus Agelenopsis, the Grass Spiders.

And alas, that's as far as I expect we'll get with this critter. This stuff is hard.