What Kind of Spiders Are in McMinnville, Oregon?

McMinnville in Oregon's wine country is crawling with the same species of spiders found in Portland to the east and north to Vancouver, Washington. In June 2011, McMinnville's population was 33,000, according to the city government. Spider species can be divided into those that inhabit houses and those that live in gardens, and then further divided into groups of those that spin webs and those that wander.

Wandering Spiders Found in Houses

• Wandering spiders search for their prey without using a web to snare them. Sometimes, instead of wandering, they sit and wait to ambush their prey. These include the yellow sac spider, the mouse spider and the zebra spider. The sac spider is seen most often at night in the spring and early summer; it spends its days in a silken retreat and ranges in color from yellow to light brown. The mouse spider chases its prey and is very fast, but it usually stays in dark areas. The zebra spider is also known as the jumping spider. It uses its silk as a safety anchor for jumping.

Web-Spinning Spiders Found in Houses

• Spiders in houses spinning webs to capture their prey include the long-bodied cellar spider and the cobweb weaver. Some spiders in houses spin webs to capture flying insects and others build web sheets on the ground to capture wandering insects. The body of the cellar spider is very small, about 7/16 inch, its legs are longer. When someone approaches the web, the spider will vibrate the web to obscure the spider's exact location. The cobweb weaver has a web that appears messy and it retreats into cover nearby during the day.

Wandering Spiders Found in Gardens

• A wandering spider in a garden or yard searches and pursues its prey or sits in wait much as those in houses. The common crab spider and the lynx spider are examples of these in McMinnville. The crab spider sits and waits for its prey and then paralyzes it. These spiders are out on sunny days, usually in the shade and waiting with their legs outstretched to grab prey. The lynx will sit and wait, but it will also stalk its prey like a lynx. They are often found in tall grass.

Web-Spinning Spiders Found in Gardens

• The cross spider and the grass spider spin webs in gardens and yards in McMinnville. The cross spider spins orb webs for flying insects. It consumes the web before spinning a replacement. The male cross spider is much smaller than the female, and it stops spinning webs as an adult and goes out in search of a female. The grass spider builds a web that looks like a sheet with a funnel-shaped retreat. When prey steps on the web, the grass spider darts out, captures the prey and brings it back to the retreat to eat it.