The Hacklemesh Weaver Spider (callopius Severus) is a large-sized spider that is reddish-brown. They can reach up to 3 to 4 cm in size when food is ample, most times you will find them hiding under rocks or other forest debris, and occasionally you find them around your doors and windows, as the fall turns to winter, they will try to get indoors.
You can find these spiders by looking for their webs, it’s a tangled web and quite messy. It is irregular in shape with a poorly created funnel it uses to retreat. These spiders have a large appetite and will eat anything they can catch. They like to hide in their funnel web and jump on whatever trips its silk tripline.
The females are the more aggressive of these beautiful little spiders. She will turn to keep her eyes on you when you are close, she will lunge forward rearing up if you get too close, and will bite to protect themselves. The males are a little more laid back and seem to be less aggressive. You can tell the males by their large pedipalps. Although they might look like fangs, they use them for transferring sperm. The males die after mating.
They can live through the winter. Funnel-web spiders will move into our home when it gets chilly, but with our mild winters, hacklemesh spiders usually find a safe place under logs and rocks. Physically speaking, they tend to have a 2-toned body, with a shiny-looking cephalothorax, and fuzzy abdomen with a pattern. The red cephalothorax of the spider in the picture is a good field identifier for the largest members of the Callobius genus. These spiders are very beautiful to look at.