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Common Spiders of North America
This stunning field guide provides a comprehensive resource for identifying and appreciating nearly 500 species of spiders.
Arachnids are among the most diverse groups of terrestrial invertebrates, yet they are among the least studied and understood. This is the most comprehensive field guide to all 68 spider families in North America, with beautiful illustrations of 469 of the most commonly encountered species. Group keys enable accurate identification by web pattern, morphology, and other observable details, and species descriptions include tips to help everyday naturalists identify spiders, as well as their common names, typical habitat, geographic distribution, and behavioral notes. A concise illustrated introduction to spider biology and anatomy explains spider relationships. Featuring 82 gorgeous color plates, this book is an accessible and detailed resource for curious naturalists who want to understand this ubiquitous and ecologically critical component of our biosphere.
Arachnids are among the most diverse groups of terrestrial invertebrates, yet they are among the least studied and understood. This is the most comprehensive field guide to all 68 spider families in North America, with beautiful illustrations of 469 of the most commonly encountered species. Group keys enable accurate identification by web pattern, morphology, and other observable details, and species descriptions include tips to help everyday naturalists identify spiders, as well as their common names, typical habitat, geographic distribution, and behavioral notes. A concise illustrated introduction to spider biology and anatomy explains spider relationships. Featuring 82 gorgeous color plates, this book is an accessible and detailed resource for curious naturalists who want to understand this ubiquitous and ecologically critical component of our biosphere.
288 pages, Paperback
First published December 18, 2012
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131 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 30, 2020
Good resource with color illustrations and information of all the spiders that live on the North American continent.
December 6, 2014
What is perhaps most striking about this guide are the astonishingly beautiful drawings; they are truly exceptional, even among nature books. Unlike many modern bird books where information on each species is placed facing the illustration of the animal, Bradley only lists the species and common name, size and page reference on the page opposing the drawing (plus a common name description of the group at the top of the legend page). This is common for books that have low print runs or are first editions. Still, it would have been nice to have the natural history, even range maps, on the facing pages, though of course this would have been a lot more time intensive. One item that COULD have been added fairly easily is the latin name of the family shown on each page facing the illustrated plates of species. Also, more natural history and anecdotes under each species description would have been appreciated. Overall, a stunning and beautiful book, highly recommended.
April 8, 2016
This is an excellent resource and if you are interested in spiders and can afford it, it's definitely worth your while. It's perhaps most perfectly tailored for someone who has used Herbert Levi's "Spiders and Their Kin" and wants to go to the next level. The artwork is superb and it gives really detailed treatments of many common species.
July 2, 2013
This was a gorgeously illustrated read. Very informative and approachable in its jargon but still high quality science. The plates are beautiful and very detailed. Highly recommended if you have an interest in natural history, entomology or North American animal life.
November 16, 2017
Simply the best arachnid book you will find. Amazingly illustrated and very finely written. Wide in scope; many many species are included. Excellent introduction and explanation of terms and features of spider morphology.
September 5, 2020
This is my favorite field guide of all time—not just for spiders, but for any species. The illustrations are so stunning and clear. I always wanted to be one of those people who can ID critters easily, even when I'm just offered a blurry photo to go by, and this book lets me do that.
Want to read
March 1, 2013I can't wait to see this book! The color plates are said to be stunning. I know you all share my excitement. ;)
December 2, 2022
Firstly, the illustrations are top-notch. I’ve been looking for a good spider field guide for North America to complement my regional guide, and I think this could be my go-to in many instances. Below, I’ll discuss what I think are some fairly significant shortcomings of this work, but while species accounts in Princeton’s Spiders of North America, by Sarah Rose, are deeper and more comprehensive, that guide isn’t necessarily easy to use as a quick reference to narrow down identifications.
My biggest beef with the present guide is the organization: “The following accounts are organized in alphabetical order by family, and by genus and species within families… At this time there is no agreed upon taxonomic sequence for spiders. So in addition to being convenient, this is the same arrangement used in published checklists as well as the aforementioned manual.”
Granting that there’s no generally agreed upon sequence, this is still kind of a lame excuse. Firstly, Bradley’s reasoning is belied by the organization of the color plates. Mygalomorphs are grouped up front, followed by Araneomorphs with similar, often related, species close together. But for the species accounts, related species aren’t described in sequence. For instance, Foldingdoor trapdoor spiders (Antrodiaetidae) are nowhere near tarantulas (Theraphosidae).
And occasionally, related species aren’t depicted near each other in the color plates. Among family Hahniidae, there are only four species described in the book. One of these is shown on Plate 33, another on Plate 35, and the other two all the way over on Plate 81. Altogether, the poor choices made about sequencing contribute to a huge amount of flipping back and forth. This is mitigated in the ebook by linking between descriptions and illustrations, but this was of no use at all to me, because I had two copies of the book open, in order to read species descriptions while also looking at the illustration.
Each new family account begins with a general description of the family, along with the number of described species worldwide, and the number found north of Mexico. Relationships to similar families are usually not stated. Species accounts, again, are listed alphabetically, which means related genera might be widely separated within large families (like Araneidae, Salticidae, Lycosidae).
The title of the book is Common Spiders of North America, and nobody could expect to find illustrations or descriptions for all ~4,000 of the continent’s species north of Mexico. The book happens to include 469. Of course, many spiders can’t be distinguished for one another without examining microscopic features or through dissection. Thus, only the most physically distinctive species will ever be identified in the field. For this reason, genus-level descriptions would often be more useful than species-level, but this is missing in nearly all cases. Among the wolf spiders (Lycosidae), I’m rarely going to be able to identify Pardosa to species. Instead of labored descriptions of one Pardosa after another, how about explaining how to distinguish Pardosa sp. from Pirata sp.
None of these problems arise in (what is, for my money, the best spider field guide for folks in the Western U.S.) the Field Guide to the Spiders of California and the Pacific Coast States, by Adams & Manolis. Not only does that guide have color plates of comparable beauty, but the organization makes sense, and it provides description at the level that is most helpful to people wanting to learn about spider identification. We travel widely throughout the U.S., and I was hoping that the present guide would fill the same needs when away from the Pacific coast, but it often falls short of that high bar.
All that being said, I found the introduction instructive, and I especially appreciated the focus on web construction and the illustrated comparisons of different eye and spinneret configurations. Species accounts include information on seasonality, which is one bit of info lacking in the Adams & Manolis guide.
I haven’t yet had a chance for a deep dive into the new Princeton field guide Spiders of North America. Although that guide includes a greater number of species (which are accompanied by photographs, not illustrations), my first impression is that the present guide is a better entry-level guide, and easier for quickly flipping through pictures for anyone hoping to find a match to a spider they find in the field. I also found that the present guide provided clearer explanations in the introduction than in the Princeton guide. I’m sure I’ll continue to use all three of my field guides for different purposes, and the present guide certainly delivers on what it set out to do.
My biggest beef with the present guide is the organization: “The following accounts are organized in alphabetical order by family, and by genus and species within families… At this time there is no agreed upon taxonomic sequence for spiders. So in addition to being convenient, this is the same arrangement used in published checklists as well as the aforementioned manual.”
Granting that there’s no generally agreed upon sequence, this is still kind of a lame excuse. Firstly, Bradley’s reasoning is belied by the organization of the color plates. Mygalomorphs are grouped up front, followed by Araneomorphs with similar, often related, species close together. But for the species accounts, related species aren’t described in sequence. For instance, Foldingdoor trapdoor spiders (Antrodiaetidae) are nowhere near tarantulas (Theraphosidae).
And occasionally, related species aren’t depicted near each other in the color plates. Among family Hahniidae, there are only four species described in the book. One of these is shown on Plate 33, another on Plate 35, and the other two all the way over on Plate 81. Altogether, the poor choices made about sequencing contribute to a huge amount of flipping back and forth. This is mitigated in the ebook by linking between descriptions and illustrations, but this was of no use at all to me, because I had two copies of the book open, in order to read species descriptions while also looking at the illustration.
Each new family account begins with a general description of the family, along with the number of described species worldwide, and the number found north of Mexico. Relationships to similar families are usually not stated. Species accounts, again, are listed alphabetically, which means related genera might be widely separated within large families (like Araneidae, Salticidae, Lycosidae).
The title of the book is Common Spiders of North America, and nobody could expect to find illustrations or descriptions for all ~4,000 of the continent’s species north of Mexico. The book happens to include 469. Of course, many spiders can’t be distinguished for one another without examining microscopic features or through dissection. Thus, only the most physically distinctive species will ever be identified in the field. For this reason, genus-level descriptions would often be more useful than species-level, but this is missing in nearly all cases. Among the wolf spiders (Lycosidae), I’m rarely going to be able to identify Pardosa to species. Instead of labored descriptions of one Pardosa after another, how about explaining how to distinguish Pardosa sp. from Pirata sp.
None of these problems arise in (what is, for my money, the best spider field guide for folks in the Western U.S.) the Field Guide to the Spiders of California and the Pacific Coast States, by Adams & Manolis. Not only does that guide have color plates of comparable beauty, but the organization makes sense, and it provides description at the level that is most helpful to people wanting to learn about spider identification. We travel widely throughout the U.S., and I was hoping that the present guide would fill the same needs when away from the Pacific coast, but it often falls short of that high bar.
All that being said, I found the introduction instructive, and I especially appreciated the focus on web construction and the illustrated comparisons of different eye and spinneret configurations. Species accounts include information on seasonality, which is one bit of info lacking in the Adams & Manolis guide.
I haven’t yet had a chance for a deep dive into the new Princeton field guide Spiders of North America. Although that guide includes a greater number of species (which are accompanied by photographs, not illustrations), my first impression is that the present guide is a better entry-level guide, and easier for quickly flipping through pictures for anyone hoping to find a match to a spider they find in the field. I also found that the present guide provided clearer explanations in the introduction than in the Princeton guide. I’m sure I’ll continue to use all three of my field guides for different purposes, and the present guide certainly delivers on what it set out to do.
February 6, 2019
A great guide to spiders that works primarily as a field guide.
May 27, 2021
Excellent and informative with beautiful detailed illustrations. Very helpful book.
October 3, 2023
My absolute fave spider ID book for N. America
October 1, 2014
Excellent. Even works as a field guide on the Kindle, as there are extensive links from picture to description. The plates are spectacular. Before this one I relied on
to get me to the family level (or sometimes further) and then went to Bugguide, or I used
, but I live in NJ, and so could not always rely on it covering what I had here.
Common Spiders is wonderful. Has helped me ID some old photos I'd never gotten through. the plates are quick and easy to skim, organized logically by what it looks like rather than strictly by family. Because the descriptions are in a separate section I might actualy recommend it for an e-reader, less cumbersome to flip back and forth.
There is also a lovely introduction to spider identification, catching spiders, things that look like spiders but aren't, etc.
Highly recommended.
to get me to the family level (or sometimes further) and then went to Bugguide, or I used
, but I live in NJ, and so could not always rely on it covering what I had here.Common Spiders is wonderful. Has helped me ID some old photos I'd never gotten through. the plates are quick and easy to skim, organized logically by what it looks like rather than strictly by family. Because the descriptions are in a separate section I might actualy recommend it for an e-reader, less cumbersome to flip back and forth.
There is also a lovely introduction to spider identification, catching spiders, things that look like spiders but aren't, etc.
Highly recommended.
February 9, 2014
I almost gave this book a 4 because my copy wasn't bound as nicely as I would have preferred, when closed the pages don't line up perfectly so flipping to a particular page isn't as simple as it should be sometimes. The quality of the material inside the book however is so far beyond anything else available on the subject that it wouldn't be fair to take away a point based on one faulty book that passed quality control. The artwork/plates are amongst the nicest I have seen.
As noted on a previous review I read, there is a lot of empty space on the reverse side of each plate. This space could have been used for range maps or could have allowed for the book to be condensed into a smaller package that may have been better suited to bring in the field.
Dispite this, fhe book gets a solid 5 from me.
As noted on a previous review I read, there is a lot of empty space on the reverse side of each plate. This space could have been used for range maps or could have allowed for the book to be condensed into a smaller package that may have been better suited to bring in the field.
Dispite this, fhe book gets a solid 5 from me.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews