Identify this spider.

[hbarcat]

My friend was surprised by a spider that was crawling across the dashboard of his car. He tried to shoo it away with a piece of cardboard, but it didn't want to go and kept going after the cardboard, and even trying to jump onto his arm. He eventually nudged it out into the grass.

He suggested it might be a brown recluse, but he sent me a few pictures of it and I'm pretty sure it's something else besides a brown recluse. I think it somewhat resembles a Yellow Sac Spider, but I just don't know.

He lives in the mixed pine and hardwood forests in northern Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Superior.

Pictures:

 

[Watchootognbout]

A Crab spider of some sort.

 

[Winslow]

Looks like Dysdera crocata, or "woodlouse spider."

See 3rd pic down here:
BugBlog: Dysderidae: Woodlouse hunters

Wiki on the species:
Woodlouse spider - Wikipedia

Similar examples in the pics here:
Category:Dysdera crocata - Wikimedia Commons

Your friend is probably safe, if he doesn't get too handsy with it:

They have been known to bite humans if handled. Verified bites have caused no major medical problems. Localized itchiness at the bite site has been reported in some cases.

 

[bholder]

Definitely not a Brown Recluse. I had one of them outside here in a bench we were putting together my sister found it and became overly concerned. So I carefully approached and peeled back shipping padding layers until I spotted it. Then I squashed it.

Anyway see that big white blob on the back? The Brown Recluse definitely doesn't have that.

 

[5StringBlues]

Boris

 

[LBS-bass]

That’s not a brown recluse.

 

[mapleglo]

That's no spider! I've got a bad feeling about this!

 

[TOOL460002]

That's no spider! I've got a bad feeling about this!

I'm with you. Something's not right.

 

[bholder]

Spawn of Ungoliant!!!!!

 

[shadowtippy]

Boris

If not Boris, then @mrjim123.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

My friend was surprised by a spider that was crawling across the dashboard of his car. He tried to shoo it away with a piece of cardboard, but it didn't want to go and kept going after the cardboard, and even trying to jump onto his arm. He eventually nudged it out into the grass.

He suggested it might be a brown recluse, but he sent me a few pictures of it and I'm pretty sure it's something else besides a brown recluse. I think it somewhat resembles a Yellow Sac Spider, but I just don't know.

He lives in the mixed pine and hardwood forests in northern Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Superior.

Pictures:

View attachment 4746701
View attachment 4746705

Did he take the picture with one of these?

 

[bholder]

More fiber go faster.

 

[Baloo Pasquariello]

Not a sac spider, not a crab spider, not a woodlouse spider, certainly not a brown recluse (they almost never are...).

It's an orb weaver, probably in the genus Araneus, and similar to the Shamrock spider, a common spider in the US. There are a few related species that look similar, all are harmless.

Also not Boris, this is a lady spider.

 

[definenredefine]

 

[beaglesandbass]

I think it's a Black Tail Crab Spider

 

[rtslinger]

My friend was surprised by a spider that was crawling across the dashboard of his car. He tried to shoo it away with a piece of cardboard, but it didn't want to go and kept going after the cardboard, and even trying to jump onto his arm. He eventually nudged it out into the grass.

He suggested it might be a brown recluse, but he sent me a few pictures of it and I'm pretty sure it's something else besides a brown recluse. I think it somewhat resembles a Yellow Sac Spider, but I just don't know.

He lives in the mixed pine and hardwood forests in northern Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Superior.

Pictures:

View attachment 4746701
View attachment 4746705

my guess

 

[hbarcat]

my guess
View attachment 4748313

That's got to be it.

Araniella displicata - Wikipedia

 

[hbarcat]

It's an orb weaver, probably in the genus Araneus . . .

Yup.

 

[Baloo Pasquariello]

Yup.

Looks like Araniella, but closely related.

 

[hbarcat]

There are 18 species of Araniella worldwide, but the only 1 in North America.

Araniella - Wikipedia