American grass spiders Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids American grass spiders

Agelenopsis cf. pennsylvanica in Vernon, British Columbia

Agelenopsis pennsylvanica in web, from Pocahontas State Park, Chesterfield, Virginia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Agelenidae
Genus:	*Agelenopsis* Giebel, 1869
Type species
A. potteri (Blackwall, 1846)
Species
14, see text

Agelenopsis, often called American grass spiders, are a type of spider known for building special webs that look like sheets with a funnel on one side. These spiders were first described by C.G. Giebel in 1869. Even though their webs aren't sticky, these spiders are super fast runners, which helps them catch their food!

Some of the bigger American grass spiders can grow to be about 19 millimeters long (that's almost an inch!). You can often tell them apart by looking at their eight eyes. They have two eyes on top, four in the middle, and two more on the bottom row. They also have two noticeable parts at their back called spinnerets, faint stripes on their legs, and two dark lines running along their body, from their head to their chest area. These spiders are harmless to humans.

What's in a Name?
Types of Grass Spiders
Photo Gallery
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See also

What's in a Name?

The name Agelenopsis comes from two parts. Agelena is a group of similar spiders found in Europe and Asia. The second part, -opsis, is a Greek word meaning "to look like." So, Agelenopsis basically means "looks like an Agelena spider."

While they look alike, there's a cool way to tell Agelenopsis spiders apart from their European cousins, Agelena. Agelenopsis spiders have two almost straight lines that go from their eyes to the start of their abdomen. Agelena spiders, on the other hand, have curved, wiggly lines that often meet at the end.

Types of Grass Spiders

As of April 2019, there are fourteen known types, or species, of American grass spiders:

Agelenopsis actuosa (Gertsch & Ivie, 1936) – Found in the USA and Canada
Agelenopsis aleenae (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935) – Found in the USA
Agelenopsis aperta (Gertsch, 1934) – Known as the desert grass spider, found in the USA and Mexico
Agelenopsis emertoni (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935) – Found in the USA
Agelenopsis kastoni (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1941) – Found in the USA
Agelenopsis longistyla (Banks, 1901) – Found in the USA
Agelenopsis naevia (Walckenaer, 1841) – Found in the USA and Canada
Agelenopsis oklahoma (Gertsch, 1936) – Found in the USA and Canada
Agelenopsis oregonensis (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935) – Found in the USA and Canada
Agelenopsis pennsylvanica (C. L. Koch, 1843) – Found in the USA and Canada
Agelenopsis potteri (Blackwall, 1846) – Found in North America, and also introduced to Ukraine, Russia (Europe, Far East), and Kirgizstan
Agelenopsis riechertae (Bosco & Chuang, 2018) – Found in the USA
Agelenopsis spatula (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935) – Found in the USA
Agelenopsis utahana (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1933) – Found in the USA and Canada