Wall spider explained

Wall spider is the common name for members of the genus Oecobius in the family Oecobiidae. The members of these several species are all small spiders that make small flat webs over crevices in walls and in similar spaces. They are cribellate spiders, meaning that they produce silk through a sieve-like plate of many parallel spigots, so that it emerges in a bundle of many invisibly fine parallel fibres with no adhesive covering to glue them together. Instead the bundles part into separate woolly cables that readily entangle small prey items, such as ants, that run into them. The spider sits in middle of the web, and when it is disturbed by suitable prey, it runs out and circles the prey with more silk to tangle it further. It subdues the prey by biting it, and carries one or more items bundled in silk, seeking a refuge where it can feed.

One cosmopolitan species is O. navus (sometimes also called O. annulipes).

One species of interest is Oecobius civitas. When a spider enters the home of another spider, rather than defend itself, the resident leaves to find another one.^[1]

Species

• Oecobius achimota Shear & Benoit, 1974 (Ghana)
• Oecobius aculeatus Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius affinis O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 (Syria, Jordan)
• Oecobius agaetensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius albipunctatus O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 (Syria)
• Oecobius alhoutyae Wunderlich, 1995 (Kuwait)
• Oecobius amboseli Shear & Benoit, 1974 (Egypt, Kenya, Uganda)
• Oecobius annulipes Lucas, 1846 (Algeria)
• Oecobius ashmolei Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius beatus Gertsch & Davis, 1937 (Mexico)
• Oecobius bracae Shear, 1970 (Mexico)
• Oecobius caesaris Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is., Azores)
• Oecobius cambridgei Wunderlich, 1995 (Lebanon)
• Oecobius camposi Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius cellariorum (Dugès, 1836) (Cosmopolitan)
• Oecobius chiasma Barman, 1978 (India)
• Oecobius civitas Shear, 1970 (Mexico)
• Oecobius concinnus Simon, 1893 (USA to Brazil, Galapagos Is. (elsewhere, introduced))
• Oecobius culiacanensis Shear, 1970 (Mexico)
• Oecobius cumbrecita Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius depressus Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius dolosus Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius doryphorus Schmidt, 1977 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius erjosensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius formosensis (Kishida, 1943) (Taiwan)
• Oecobius fortaleza Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius fuerterotensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius furcula Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius gomerensis Wunderlich, 1979 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius hayensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius hidalgoensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius hierroensis Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius hoffmannae Jiménez & Llinas, 2005 (Mexico)
• Oecobius idolator Shear & Benoit, 1974 (Burkina Faso)
• Oecobius iguestensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius incertus Wunderlich, 1995 (North Africa)
• Oecobius infierno Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius interpellator Shear, 1970 (USA)
• Oecobius isolatoides Shear, 1970 (USA, Mexico)
• Oecobius isolatus Chamberlin, 1924 (USA, Mexico)
• Oecobius juangarcia Shear, 1970 (Mexico)
• Oecobius lampeli Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius latiscapus Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius linguiformis Wunderlich, 1995 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius longiscapus Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius machadoi Wunderlich, 1995 (Portugal, Spain)
• Oecobius maculatus Simon, 1870 (Mediterranean to Azerbaijan)
• Oecobius marathaus Tikader, 1962 (Pantropical)
• Oecobius marcosensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius maritimus Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius minor Kulczyn'ski, 1909 (Azores, Madeira)
• Oecobius nadiae (Spassky, 1936) (Central Asia, China)
• Oecobius navus Blackwall, 1859 (Cosmopolitan)
  • Oecobius navus hachijoensis Uyemura, 1965 (Japan)
• Oecobius palmensis Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius paolomaculatus Wunderlich, 1995 (Algeria)
• Oecobius pasteuri Berland & Millot, 1940 (West Africa)
• Oecobius persimilis Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius petronius Simon, 1890 (Yemen)
• Oecobius piaxtla Shear, 1970 (Mexico)
• Oecobius pinoensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius przewalskyi Hu & Li, 1987 (Tibet)
• Oecobius pseudodepressus Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius putus O. P.-Cambridge, 1876 (Egypt, Sudan to Azerbaijan (USA, introduced))
• Oecobius rhodiensis Kritscher, 1966 (Greece)
• Oecobius rioensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius rivula Shear, 1970 (Mexico)
• Oecobius rugosus Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius sapporensis Saito, 1934 (Japan)
• Oecobius selvagensis Wunderlich, 1995 (Salvages)
• Oecobius sheari Benoit, 1975 (Chad)
• Oecobius similis Kulczyn'ski, 1909 (Madeira, Canary Is., Azores, St. Helena)
• Oecobius sombrero Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius tadzhikus Andreeva & Tyschchenko, 1969 (Central Asia)
• Oecobius tasarticoensis Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)
• Oecobius teliger O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 (Lebanon)
• Oecobius templi O. P.-Cambridge, 1876 (Egypt, Sudan)
• Oecobius tibesti Shear & Benoit, 1974 (Chad)
• Oecobius trimaculatus O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 (Jordan)
• Oecobius unicoloripes Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)

Further reading

• Santos, A.J. & Gonzaga, M.O. (2003). On the spider genus Oecobius Lucas, 1846 in South America (Araneae, Oecobiidae). Journal of Natural History 37(2):239-252. Abstract

Notes and References

1. Book: Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. 1976. 236.