What is "wandering spider"

Wandering \Wan"der*ing\, a. & n. from Wander, v.

Wandering albatross (Zo["o]l.), the great white albatross. See Illust. of Albatross.

Wandering cell (Physiol.), an animal cell which possesses the power of spontaneous movement, as one of the white corpuscles of the blood.

Wandering Jew (Bot.), any one of several creeping species of Tradescantia, which have alternate, pointed leaves, and a soft, herbaceous stem which roots freely at the joints. They are commonly cultivated in hanging baskets, window boxes, etc.

Wandering kidney (Med.), a morbid condition in which one kidney, or, rarely, both kidneys, can be moved in certain directions; -- called also floating kidney, movable kidney.

Wandering liver (Med.), a morbid condition of the liver, similar to wandering kidney.

Wandering mouse (Zo["o]l.), the whitefooted, or deer, mouse. See Illust. of Mouse.

Wandering spider (Zo["o]l.), any one of a tribe of spiders that wander about in search of their prey.

n. Any spider of the family Ctenidae, some of which are extremely aggressive.

The wandering spiders are the members of the spider family Ctenidae. Some mistakenly misinterpret the name to only mean the genus Phoneutria, which are often called Brazilian wandering spiders (despite several species with ranges outside of Brazil), but wandering spiders better refers to the entire family Ctenidae. The members of the genus Phoneutria are highly aggressive and venomous nocturnal hunters, and are the only wandering spiders known to pose potential danger to humans. However, the venoms of many other members of this family are very poorly known, meaning that all larger ctenids should be treated with caution. Some ctenids have marks and patterns that are attractive. Ctenids have a distinctive longitudinal groove on the top-rear of their oval carapace (some other spiders have a similar groove; e.g., Amaurobiidae).