Tegenaria parietina is a rather rare European spider with a distribution from Northern Africa to Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

 and has also been found in Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

 and Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. In the UK is sometimes known as the cardinal spider because of the legend that Cardinal Woolsey was terrified by this species at Hampton Court.

Appearance

Females grow up to 20mm, males up to 17mm. Legs are approximately three times longer, although some specimens have legs as large as 7.5 cm with a span between front and rear legs of 14 cm.http://www.ferngreen.co.uk/NOCI/Seasonal_Wildlife.htm They are reddish brown. Females can live for up to eight years, while males die shortly after mating. These spiders live mostly in buildings or walls. They look rather similar to T. ferruginea

Tegenaria ferruginea

Malthonica ferruginea is a European reddish, rather common spider with rusty markings on its back. It looks rather similar to T. parietina. It is sometimes also considered to be of the genus Tegenaria, where it has been placed for over 160 years before being transferred to Malthonica in...

.