Anyone know anything about spiders?

[DrMike27]

I have a pair of spiders in my back yard: Sam, who lives on the awning of my back porch, and Samantha, who lives on my lemon tree. I have no idea what kind of spiders they are, but, I can definitively tell they are not brown recluse or black widow (body looks similar to a widow, but they are completely white with black stripes on the bottom). I have always been under the impression that spiders are beneficial for gardens (and Samantha has already eaten more than her weight in ‘bad’ bugs), but with having a very curious 1 year old, I wanted to see if anyone could identify these, as I have had no luck doing so. I would hate to have to destroy them, but if there is a chance they are poisonous, I cannot take the risk.

 

[karstopography]

Brown recluse: Pest management tips for the spider that's not as common as you think

One of the first things you should know about the brown recluse spider is that its reputation far exceeds its actual prevalence.

phys.org

I can’t really tell from the photo. The color looks right, but the markets aren’t sharp enough in the photo. Evidently, there are related to the brown recluse species in your region. The typical brown recluse to the East has the distinctive violin shaped darker marking on the thorax. “

• Identification. The violin-shaped marking on the brown recluse is well known but can be easily mistaken on other spider species. However, the brown recluse spider's eye pattern—six eyes, arranged in three pairs in a U-shape line with a space between each pair—is a better identifier.”

I’ve known of some brown recluse bites that had bad outcomes. Diabetes played a significant part.

 

[DrMike27]

Brown recluse: Pest management tips for the spider that's not as common as you think

One of the first things you should know about the brown recluse spider is that its reputation far exceeds its actual prevalence.

phys.org

I can’t really tell from the photo. The color looks right, but the markets aren’t sharp enough in the photo. Evidently, there are related to the brown recluse species in your region. The typical brown recluse to the East has the distinctive violin shaped darker marking on the thorax. “

• Identification. The violin-shaped marking on the brown recluse is well known but can be easily mistaken on other spider species. However, the brown recluse spider's eye pattern—six eyes, arranged in three pairs in a U-shape line with a space between each pair—is a better identifier.”

I’ve known of some brown recluse bites that had bad outcomes. Diabetes played a significant part.

I haven’t seen any of the fiddle markings I’m used to seeing with the brown recluse (had a too close for comfort meeting with one in my dorm room as an undergrad in Tennessee), and I agree the pictures don’t give that great of an image, but they are far whiter than the recluse example you are citing. Not trying to say it isn’t possible, but I can’t seem to get a clear enough picture when they are actually out of their den.

Probably should note that they both live in long, thin funnel looking dens made of webbing.

 

[oneeye]

All spiders are beneficial for gardens indoor and out. I have a few living in my indoor garden now and run into them every once and a while. How I know they are doing there job of catching plants pests is they stay in the garden. I have one that's getting fat from getting so much food from eating pests. If they weren't there I could have a pest pest problem.

 

[DrMike27]

Here’s a better picture of Sam’s back. It almost looks like a widow marking, but he is brown and white?

Here is Samantha’s den. It looks like a funnel and you can kinda see her sticking her legs out of the bottom.