Field Guide to Ground-Dwelling Spiders in Southeastern Blueberry Farmscapes

This guide highlights the most common families and genera of spiders by habitat, providing farmers, students, and educators with a practical resource for recognizing these groups. The spiders highlighted in this guide live close to the ground in blueberry fields and adjacent forest habitats (Rezende et al., 2026). 

Spiders as Natural Pest Control Agents 

Spiders are helpful organisms that feed on insects and other small organisms. In many cases, they are among the most effective natural controls of pest insects in gardens, farms, forests, and even inside homes. Still, their presence can worry some people. Fear of spiders is often rooted in myths or misinformation. A small number of species can bite and may require medical care.

How Do You Identify a Spider?

Spiders may look a bit like insects, but they belong to a different class of arthropods, called Arachnida. They have eight legs (not six) and two main body segments instead of three.

The front segment, called the cephalothorax, holds the legs, eyes, and mouthparts—including the chelicerae, which are fang-like structures used to bite prey and inject venom. The back segment is the abdomen, which contains the spinnerets, which are small, fingerlike structures that produce silk. Spiders use silk for many purposes, such as building webs, making egg sacs, wrapping captured prey, or creating draglines for movement and escape.

Most spiders have six to eight eyes arranged in two rows, and the pattern of their eyes helps distinguish different spider families.

How Ground Spiders Hunt

Ground spiders live in environments with plenty of hiding places—such as rocks, logs, leaf litter, and grasslands. These spiders do not spin webs to catch their prey. Many ground-dwelling species rely on other hunting strategies; the three main hunting styles are detailed below.

These spiders roam the ground in search of prey. They don’t build webs to trap their prey. They move very quickly across the ground.

These spiders build low, irregular webs on the ground or in vegetation, then wait beneath or at the edge of the web for prey to stumble in.

These spiders use a sit-and-wait strategy, staying hidden under leaves or debris until unsuspecting prey comes close.

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Family: Lycosidae

This is a large genus of wolf spiders. They have thin legs and live on the ground, hunting for prey. They are found in many habitats, but are often found in open areas, such as grasslands and agricultural fields. They are considered effective biological control agents of agricultural pests.

Pardosa spiders are usually brown with dark markings. Females can be spotted carrying a silk sac attached to their spinnerets, where they keep their eggs. They vary in size, but they are typically small, ranging from 4 to 10 mm.

Spiders in this genus are small, often 6 to 15 mm. They are brown to gray with pale stripes or spots. Some species have tufts of dark hairs on their front legs, used in courtship behaviors. They possess a reflective structure in their posterior eyes called the tapetum lucidum, which gives them excellent vision, especially at night.

These are medium-sized, usually 3 to 7 mm. They are often brown and gray with a V-shaped pale mark on the carapace (a protective, shell-like covering on the cephalothorax), pointing toward the abdomen.

While commonly inhabiting forested borders of fields, they can also be found near the edges of ponds and streams, and can run across the surface of water.

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Family: Thomisidae

Ground Crab Spider in McGregor, MN.
Photo: Lorie Shaull, Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/number7cloud/).

This includes small to medium-sized crab spiders, with females that are noticeably larger than males. Most are dark brown or gray with pale markings. Their eyes are small and arranged in two rows of four.

The first and second pair of legs are long, stout, and widely spread, curving outward to give the spider a crab-like stance—an adaptation that allows sideways movement. These spiders are slow-moving and wait in ambush to capture prey, a strategy known as sit-and-wait. They are typically found on the ground or in low vegetation.

Family: Gnaphosidae

Zelotes frenchi.
Photo: Rudolph Steenkamp, iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/436094201).

Spiders in the genus Zelotes are small to medium-sized (ranging from 4 to 10 mm). They are usually dark brown, with a somewhat shiny body.

Their bodies lack pale markings, giving them a uniform color and appearance. The legs of Zelotes are relatively long and slender, allowing this group of spiders to run fast and be effective active hunters. They are typically active at night and hide under rocks, leaf litter, and ground vegetation during the day.

Micaria Female (Missing Two Legs) in Jacksonville, FL.
Photo: Lyn Roueche, iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/161635367).

Spiders in this genus are small, approximately 4 to 5 mm, with iridescent scales on their abdomen that give them a very bright appearance. Micaria spiders are convincing ant mimics and can be seen in association with ants. They move quickly, like fast-moving ants, and are diurnally active (active during the daytime).

Callilepis imbecilla Female (Missing Two Legs) in Ohio.
Photo: Rich Bradley, iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.nz/photos/139207198).

These are small spiders, usually 3 to 6 mm. They are dark brown to black. The cephalothorax tends to be oval-shaped and lacks markings. They are mostly nocturnal (active at night) and hide under rocks, bark, or in sandy soils during the day. A few species can be spotted during the day, chasing their favorite prey: ants.

Family: Hahniidae

Distinctive Spinnerets Arranged in a Single Transverse Row.

These are tiny spiders, usually measuring less than 5 mm. Spiders in this family can be recognized by their comb-like spinnerets. They are found in damp sites near the soil’s surface, where they build their sheetlike webs. These spiders have relatively large eyes compared to others in the Hahniidae family.

Hahnia sp. in British Columbia. Photo: Trevor Van Loon, iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/426814014).

Spiders in this genus are small, often 2 to 4 mm. They are yellowish-brown to dark brown. They have a flat appearance. Spinnerets are arranged in one row, like the ones in genus Neoantistea. They are often found hiding at the edge of sheet webs, relying on vibrations to detect their prey.

Family: Linyphiidae

Tennesseellum formica on a Human Palm, Showing its Relative Size.
Photo: Brett Ortler, iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/157218403).

These are tiny spiders, often 2 to 3 mm in body length. They have relatively long legs. The body is dark brown with a shiny cephalothorax and an elongated oval abdomen. Its name, “formica” (ant in Latin), refers to its ant-like appearance.

Tennesseellum formica builds small horizontal sheet webs and, like other spiders in the Linyphiidae family, hangs beneath the web waiting for small invertebrates. It detects prey through vibrations transmitted along the silk. They are active year-round but are more abundant in spring and fall.

Family: Corinnidae

Castianeira decripta.
Photo: Jacob Weston, iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/283087565).

These are small to medium-sized spiders, 4 to 10 mm. Their bodies are longer than wide, often with white and orange hairs. The legs are thin and often have white stripes.

Spiders in this genus have eight eyes in two procurved rows (curved forward), with the upper row slightly wider than the lower row. They move very quickly across the ground.

Some species mimic ant behavior, waving their front legs as if they were antennae, while others have bright orange coloration that likely mimics that of velvet ants. They feed on small insects and ants.

Falconina gracilis in Southern California.
Photo: Jesse Rorabaugh, iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/58291507).

Falconina gracilis is native to South America and was introduced to the United States by or before 2005. These are medium-sized spiders, usually 5 to 9 mm. Their bodies are elongated, glossy, and dark brown. The abdomen is lighter brown and marked by eight light spots.

They mimic and feed on ants and seem well-adapted to human environments and disturbed areas, like farmscapes. They are found during the day, seeking out their prey.

Spiders are Beneficial Predators

Recent research to understand the importance of spiders shows that spiders around the world eat 400–800 million tons of insects annually, are predators of crop pests, and are a key part of keeping ecosystems in balance. Protecting natural habitats helps support these beneficial organisms.

References

Dupérré, N. (2013). Taxonomic revision of the spider genera Agyneta and Tennesseellum (Araneae, Linyphiidae) of North America north of Mexico with a study of the embolic division within Micronetinae sensu Saaristo & Tanasevitch 1996. Zootaxa, 3674, 1–189. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3674.1.1

Nentwig, W., Blick, T., Bosmans, R., Kropf, C., & Stäubli, A. (Eds.). (2026). araneae: Spiders of Europe. https://araneae.nmbe.ch/

Omelko, M. M., Marusik, Y. M., & Koponen, S. (2011). A survey of the East Palaearctic Lycosidae (Aranei). 8. The genera Pirata Sundevall, 1833 and Piratula Roewer, 1960 in the Russian Far East. Arthropoda Selecta, 20(3), 195–232. https://doi.org/10.15298/arthsel.20.3.05

Rezende, S. M., Pennisi, S. V., & Schmidt, J. M. (2026). Neighboring forest habitat in blueberry systems reduces patterns of dominance and generates higher seasonal stability of spider communities. Global Ecology and Conservation, 65, e04019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e04019

Spider anatomy. (2025, November 11). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spider_anatomy&oldid=1321628393

Ubick, D., Paquin, P., Cushing, P. E., & Roth, V. (Eds.). (2017). Spiders of North America: an identification manual (2^nd ed.). American Arachnological Society.

Valle, S. J., Keiser, C. B., Vincent, L. S., & Vetter, R. S. (2013). A South American spider, Falconina gracilis (Keyserling 1891) (Araneae: Corinnidae), newly established in southern California. The Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 89(4), 259–263. https://doi.org/10.3956/2013-23.1

All color illustrations by Steve Buchanan. Used with permission.

Funding Note

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under agreement USDA-NRCS NR204310XXXXC013 awarded to the University of Georgia in joint venture with Woodard & Curran Inc.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, any reference to specific brands or types of products or services does not constitute or imply an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for those products or services. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.