It looks very similar to

Once I had a name to go with, I was able to really reserch and have read they rarely bite? They seem so BIG- like they could really take a chunk! At any rate- thank you very much! I'm so *shivery* just knowing they are in my house :(

Hi, Sharon-

I was going to ask if you had a species list for Alaska, because there are many Callobius species in N.A. and they seem to be very similar in appearance. But I think I've answered my own question, as I remembered that I have Leech's work on these (1972).

The various species appear to be rather specific in their distribution. Leech lists two Callobius species for which he had specimens from Alaska (a couple more species are listed for British Columbia):

C. nomeus (Skagway, Alaska)
C. pictus (numerous locations, including Juneau, W. Ketchikan, and Wrangell)

The descriptions are similar but not identical: C. nomeus .. "dorsum with distinct white spots anteriorly, chevrons posteriorly", C. pictus .. "dorsum with distinct pale spots anteriorly, chevrons posteriorly".

Finally, there is also Cybaeopsis wabritaska; Leech writes somewhat cryptically about this genus ("Callioplus" at the time) that "the females ... bear a stronger resemblance to those of Callobius than do the males". So, perhaps that is also a possibility(?).

However, the specimen list for Alaska in the Nearctic Database includes C. pictus (77 m, 60 f) and Cybaeopsis wabritaska (67 m, 6 f), which seems to speak for Callobius pictus.

-K