Strategies by guild
Orb weavers and tangle web builders capture prey passively in silk and finish with a venomous bite and wrap.
Wolf spiders and ground crab spiders ambush prey from cover; jumping spiders stalk and leap from up to 30 body lengths away.
Net-casting spiders (Deinopidae) hold a small expandable web between the front legs and throw it over prey - a behavior largely absent in temperate North America.
References
- [1]Predatory behavior in spiders - Annual Review of Entomology. Accessed June 2026.
Related in Behavior
- Why spiders come indoorsMost spiders found inside North American homes are house-adapted species that live their entire lives indoors.
- Are spiders aggressive?No spider species in North America is aggressive toward humans in the behavioral sense.
- Do spiders hunt in packs?With rare exceptions among a few tropical species (Anelosimus eximius), spiders are solitary predators.
- Ballooning: how spiderlings travelMany spiderlings disperse by releasing silk strands into rising air and being carried aloft, sometimes for hundreds of kilometers.
- Courtship and mating behaviorSpider courtship is highly species-specific and often involves vibratory signaling, visual displays, or chemical cues.
- Diurnal vs. nocturnal activity patternsMost North American synanthropic spiders are nocturnal; jumping spiders and many crab spiders are strictly diurnal.