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In the 40+ years I've lived in Texas, I have rarely encountered venomous spiders in the wild.  Sometime around 2018 that finally changed, so I've made this page.

August 09, 2018  I was recovering from a full hip replacement. I'd started walking around the neighborhood for rehabilitation. Since it was hot, I went out at sunrise, when the air temperature
was the lowest it would be for the day.  One morning, I noticed a brown anole (A. sagrei) caught in a spider's web. Since I couldn't bend down, I took what photos I could.  I went out the next 
day (Aug. 10) with with an actual camera (instead of just the phone) so I could zoom instead of bending over. I was trying to figure out what kind of spider had made the web that had caught
the lizard. On this day, I tried at about 7am and the lizard may have still been alive. I tried again at about 2:30 pm. Still no luck getting a clear shot at the spider, but the lizard had been 
secured, and looks worse. The web is not an "orb web" as most people picture when they think about a spider's web. This appears to be a snare made from single strands attached without
a pattern.  In this type of snare, individual strands are attached at some elevated point, then stretched down and other end is secured to the ground. When something contacts the snare, it is
stuck to the strand, and the strand (which had been under tension) comes free of the ground.
The pretenstioned strand then pulls up, along with whatever part of the prey has touched it.  Struggle more can cause more strands to be attached and eventually the prey is partly-suspended,
unable to leave.  The spider can bite the trapped prey to help immobilize it. This lizard could have run into the strands be running on the wall. However it got there, it was trapped now.  The 
pictures show the spider hiding in its shelter.  It had a round body, with smaller cephalothorax, and dark thin legs.  With that body shape, and the snare-type web, I thought it could have been
a Common House Spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) but no way for me to be sure.
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   Lizard caught in the "snare" web. Spider is above and near center.  (08/09/2018)                                                                                                           Closeup of the spider. (08/09/2018)

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                    (08/09/2018)                                                      Next morning (08/10/2018)              That afternoon (08/10/2018). Lizard looks worse.

August 14, 2018  I tried again over the next few days, I could see the spider, but not very well.  But a lizard was still there. But I think it's a different lizard than before! The head looks larger.
So this records at least two lizards that had been caught! I checked on the lizard carcass in the web 2 days later (8/16). I went out before sunrise and the spider was out; but I scared it when I 
tried to light it with the phone light. Still no luck. But during all this observation, I learned that the spider seems to be more active at night. Once the sun started to show any light at all, the spider 
retired for the day. When I tried on 8/17/2018--I finally got my pictures! And what a surprise! There was an orange hourglass-shape under the spider.  Because of the color of the 
spider (not black) and the hourglass; I could identify this as a Brown Widow Spider (Latrodectus geometricus). Because of body shape, I think it was a male. 

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(08/14/2018). Same web, different lizard!    Brown Widow (08/17/2018)                           This was how I saw it from above. It was only about 12 inches off the ground. (08/17/2018)

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                                          Here's where it was relative to the lizard. (08/17/2018)

August 25, 2018  I continued checking on the web between my rehab/walk sessions. On 8/25, I got a shot of a female there, along with her red marking.  This last batch of pictures were 
taken through 8/31/2018.  On 8/29, she'd caught a large insect.  On 8/30, I got a few shots of both the male and female.   8/31 got a  good shot that shows the edge of her abdominal marking
from the side while she rested. This was near the end of my month of recovery/rehab, and I had to return to work. So I lost track of what happened after.  Still, very nice first contact with one 
of my neighbors!  

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 Female with dried lizard carcass. (08/25/2018)  Female with big insect. (08/29/2018)                                Male in web. (08/30/2018)                                             (08/30/2018)

Brown Widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus) are venomous, but according to various sources, their bite is not as dangerous as that of their cousin, Black Widow spider (Latrodectus nactans).
( Biology of Spiders, 3rd edition �2011 page 56).

If you'd like to know more about the park follow these links:

Brazos Bend State Park   The main page.

Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer's Page  The volunteer's main page.

Click on this image   to see a flv video movie (942kb) of a series of 9  11 x 14 posters I'm working on.

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