The Eastern Parson Spider (Herpyllus ecclesiasticus) is a spider commonly found in North American homes. Here I get into what we know about this species – turns out, there hasn’t been a ton of research done, so I had to do a bit of my own, with some slow motion spider action. Closely related (and nearly identical to) Herpyllus propinquus, the Western Parson Spider.
All uncredited photos and videos are my own. Those by others are credited in the video.
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In the United States:
In Canada:
Contents:
0:00 Introduction
2:13 The Eastern Parson Spider
4:28 The Basics, and History
6:36 Description and Distribution
8:38 The Stars of the Show
10:21 Is This a Polite Spider?
10:50 Politeness – Webs
12:57 Politeness – Movement
14:36 Politeness – Biteyness
17:05 The Cheese Test
19:00 Hunting Behaviour
30:09 Reproduction
30:59 Conclusion and Links
References
Adams RJ (2014). Field Guide to the Spiders of California and the Pacific Coast States. University of California Press
Baydizada N, Tothova A, Pekar S (2020). Tracing the evolution of trophic specialization and mode of attack behaviour in the ground spider family Gnaphosidae. Organisms Diversity & Evolution.
Bristowe WS (1958). The World of Spiders. Collins New Naturalist.
Guarisco H. (2007). Checklist of Kansas Ground Spiders. The Kansas School Naturalist 55(1).
Hentz NM (1832) On North American spiders. American Journal of Science 21: 99-109.
Hentz NM (1847). Descriptions and figures of the araneides of the United States. Boston Journal of Natural History 5:443-479, pl. 23-24, 30-31.
Kaston BJ (1948). Spiders of Connecticut. Bulletin of the Connecticut State Geological and Natural History Survery 70:1-874.
Majerski J, Durst G (1975). Bite by the spider Herpyllus ecclesiasticus in South Carolina. Toxicon 13:377.
Murphy JA (2007). Gnaphosid genera of the world. British Arachnological Society, St Neots, Cambs.
Platnick N., Dondale C. (1992). The Ground Spiders of Canada and Alaska: Araneae: Gnaphosidae. The Insects and Arachnids of Canada, Part 19. Agriculture Canada.
Platnick N., Shadab M. (1977). A revision of the spider genera Herpyllus and Scotophaeus (Araneae, Gnaphosidae) in North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 159:1-44.
Rose S. (2022). Spiders of North America. Princeton University Press
Wolff J, Rezac M, Krejci T, Gorb S (2017). Hunting with sticky tape: functional shift in silk glands of araneophagous ground spiders (Gnaphosidae). Journal of Experimental Biology 220:2250-2259 doi: 10.1242/jeb.154682