Best time to see: all year

Key facts

A slim spider with long spindly legs, often found in houses building small untidy webs in corners of ceilings

Trusses up its catch in silk; also eats other spiders that come too close, including its own kind

Widely distributed across southern England and Wales

Recognition

Female body length is about 9mm, with legs 5 or 6 times as long

Brownish with darker markings on its body and bands on its legs

Vibrates its web violently when disturbed, as a defence against predators

Lifecycle

Males go in search of females at night, vibrating the web and approaching cautiously before mating

Females hold the eggs between their jaws until they hatch

The young stay in their mother's web until big enough to move away and look after themselves