Spruce-fir moss spider
The spruce-fir moss spider is a tiny brown spider, only about the size of a sesame seed. It lives in soft, wet moss on rocks, high up on cold mountain tops. It is a little cousin of the big tarantulas.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Spruce-fir moss spider compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It is one of the smallest spiders in the tarantula group, only 3 to 4 millimetres long.
It spins little tube shaped webs to hide in, not to catch food.
It needs moss that is always damp. If the moss dries out, the spider cannot survive.
In the cold mountains it grows very slowly and can take three years to become an adult.
It is endangered, because many of the fir trees in its forests have died.
Most asked questions about Spruce-fir moss spider
?How big is the spruce-fir moss spider?
Very tiny, just 3 to 4 millimetres long.
?Why is the spruce-fir moss spider endangered?
The fir trees in its forest are dying, so the moss it lives in dries out.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Microhexura montivaga
- Named by
- Crosby & Bishop, 1925
- Group
- Spiders
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Spruce-fir moss spider (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
European garden spider
Goliath birdeater
Brown recluse
Redback spider
Yellow garden spider
Bold jumping spider
Ash-black slug
Forest tent caterpillar
Buck moth
Evening cicada
Wฤtฤpunga
Banana slug