Cardinal Spider Tegenaria parietina

The Cardinal Spider is a species of House Spider and is Britain's largest spider by leg length. Females have a body length of some 20mm and a leg span of 45mm (each leg, so over 100mm or 4 inches across). The legs are slightly annulated, difficult to see at night against the bright light. Also called the Cardinal Wolsey Spider, they are said to have frightened him at Hampton Court. Thanks to Martin Starnes for the above photos, particularly of a Noble False Widow scaring off a Cardinal - appropriate for the battles between nobles and cardinals of that era.

Thanks again to Martin Starnes for these photos. Above left is apparently an egg sac of one of the Large House Spider species (Tegenaria or Eratigena) both of which decorate the nursery with fragments of insect carcases and debris. Thanks to Dr Geoff Oxford for the ID of the "alien web". The owner sits in her funnel web nearby. Above right shows size compared to a hornet's nest.