Common house spider
Parasteatoda tepidariorum (C. L. Koch, 1841)
Status not recordedspiders
The common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) is a species in the family Theridiidae, order Araneae. Recorded adults reach 7.5 mm in length. Source checklists list it for 2 countries: Argentina and New Zealand.
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Quick facts about the common house spider
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 3.5 mm – 7.5 mmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- human_modifiedsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- 2 countriessrc for Countries on record
How big is the common house spider?
Which animals does the common house spider eat?
Species recorded in published studies and collections.
Recorded prey of the common house spider
1 on record
- Green Coneheaded planthopper Acanalonia conica3 sources
Each pair is recorded by at least two independent datasets. A record shows the animal was seen or found to have eaten the other, including scavenged carcasses and young animals; it does not say how often. Compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (CC0 1.0).
References for these records
- https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/239468149
- https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/58449181
- Poelen, J. H. Global Biotic Interactions: Interpreted Data Products. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5708970 (2021).
Where does the common house spider live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The common house spider is listed for 2 countries.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: WSC (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the common house spider as introduced in 10 countries.
Also listed for parts of: France (French Southern and Antarctic Lands Terres australes et antarctiques françaises (TAAF)).
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the common house spider endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the common house spider classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classArachnida
- orderAraneae
- familyTheridiidae
- genusParasteatoda
- SpeciesParasteatoda tepidariorum (C. L. Koch, 1841)
Synonyms Achaearanea tepidariorum, Achaearanea tepidariorum, Parasteatoda marmorea, Parasteatoda pallida, Parasteatoda varia, Parasteatoda vulgaris, Steatoda tepidariorum, Theridion marmoreum, Theridion pallidum, Theridion tepidariorum, Theridion tepidarorium, Theridion tepidatorium, Theridion varium, Theridion vulgare, Theridium tepidariorum
Other names and names in other languages (25)
- American house spiderEnglish
- Glasshouse spiderEnglish
- snovačka skleníkováCzech
- VæksthusspinderDanish
- GewächshausspinneGerman
- Gewächshaus-MondspinneGerman
- ansaripisarakkiFinnish
- Theridion des serresFrench
- üvegházi törpepókHungarian
- Ragno domestico americanoItalian
- Ragno delle case americanoItalian
- オオヒメグモJapanese
- 말꼬마거미Korean
- Šiltnaminis storapilvisLithuanian
- veksthuskamfotNorwegian Bokmål
- BroeikasspinDutch
- Omatnik pospolityPolish
- Aranha domésticaPortuguese
- Парастеатода тепличнаяRussian
- Обыкновенный (американский) домашний паукRussian
- växthusspindelSwedish
- 温室拟肥腹蛛Chinese
- 大姬蛛Chinese
- 大擬肥腹蛛Chinese
- 溫室擬肥腹蛛Chinese
Relatives of the common house spider
Other species in the same genus Parasteatoda.
CompareCommon house spider vs Wandering house cobweaverCommon house spider vs Decorative ParasteatodaCommon house spider vs Parasteatoda aequipeiformisCommon house spider vs Parasteatoda angulithorax
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the common house spider?
An adult common house spider measures 3.5 mm – 7.5 mm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the common house spider live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the common house spider for 2 countries: Argentina and New Zealand. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the common house spider an invasive species?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the common house spider as introduced in 10 countries, including Austria, Canada, Denmark, Georgia and Germany, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.
What kind of animal is the common house spider?
The common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) belongs to the family Theridiidae in the order Araneae.
Which animals does the common house spider eat?
Animals recorded as prey of the common house spider include green coneheaded planthopper. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI): interpreted data products · CC0 1.0 · 0.11
Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. & Mungall, C.J. (2014) Global Biotic Interactions: an open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics 24: 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22691479, with each record's original reference. - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-house-spider
“Common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-house-spider.
@misc{common_house_spider_2026,
title = {Common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-house-spider},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}