Everything that ‘everybody knows’ about spiders is wrong!

As the only spider specialist in a large metropolitan area, I get many spider inquiries from the general public. Since I'm mentioned on the Internet as a spider specialist, some of the public inquiries come from distant places. When I lecture on spiders, adult and child audiences always have questions and comments. So do casual acquaintances when they learn that I work with spiders.

These people's concerns come from a widespread and surprisingly uniform set of assumptions and "general knowledge" about spiders. And almost all of this widespread spider information is false!

I don't really expect that the following, by itself, will make much headway against the flood of spider misinformation. However, I hope that those curious about spiders who find their way here will absorb enough information to ask me some new questions instead of the same old ones. I can hope, can't I?

Questions and Comments. For general spider information go to our resources page. To suggest improvements or additions, or to ask a question, please contact me. But if you hope to show that any of the following myths is actually true, please be prepared with verifiable evidence including actual specimens…