ID for these two spiders please.

[pannaking22]

My guess on pisaurid is out as well. Thanks for keeping us updated! I agree on it being some species of Micrommata.

 

[ReignofInvertebrates]

Those Lycosid pics really resemble Hogna radiata. Can anyone tell me what Hogna spp. are native to Libya? Also reminds me of my juvenile H. antelucana.

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

Just came out of my biochemistry exam today, been cramming since last week.

Anywho, my Lycosid has dug a burrow and created a trap door and covered that door with dirt, so the burrow is absolutely hidden from the top. She then layed her sac. She dug her burrow in the corner of the container closest to the heater (which is actually pretty hot - it is the only thing that is heating my entire poorly insulated room, and it does a good job) and she is even pressing her sac against the wall near the heater. I have no idea how far the burrow extends inwards, it is very dark and the plastic is foggy.


My Argiope has layed what appears to be another sac, this time closer to the side of the lid that I bend open. She has even expanded her web complex to accompany it. If she keeps this up, I'm seriously gonna have a problem opening her enclosure.

My Sparassid is in the exact same position, sitting on top of her eggs. Any disturbance or noise and she curls around her sac. Otherwise, she hasn't moved an inch since she layed. She is so thin. Will she die of starvation?

The day she layed her sac I removed the lid of her enclosure and I think that upset her quite a bit. Afterwards, she was doing something to her sac - like she was trying to pull it off the wall or rip it open. She pulled so hard that you could even hear a noise through the plastic when her fangs lost their grip and the sac bounced back into its original position. She eventually just went back to quietly sitting over them. Later I found that she had further webbed the area where the enclosure attaches to the lid, so that container is off limits for now. I also want to point out that, on the day that I removed her lid (if you see the pictures, it joins the container very close to her sac, providing her with a roof) I noticed that there was some sort of mucus on the edge of the lid near her sac. At the time I just thought it was some leftover Vaseline from my previous misguided attemp at controlling her climbing antics, but I'm not sure tbh.

I've definitely also thought she might be a Hogna radiata, but I feel that there are a few pattern differences. Does her burrow design help narrow it down, or is this just a normal Lycosid den?

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

On another note, my Lycosid hasn't eaten since I got her. Meaning she has probably been fasting for a month or more. Maybe, now that she's produced her egg sac, she'll give it a shot. Should I press a cricket against the web door of her den? I feel like she is gonna starve if she doesn't eat soon and she hasn't left her den (not that I've seen, at least) since the day she made her egg sac in it. Maybe even since the day she built it.

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

Micrommatas are hatching...slings are the lime coloured blobs collecting around the mother.

A question rears its ugly head all of a sudden - what do I do now? No wingless fruit flies for sale here. Do I have to go around hand collecting speck sized arthropods?

Impeccable timing too. Slap dab in the middle of my exams.

Also, them being sticky-footed Sparassids and all, do I have to worry about the airholes on the lid?

And, is it just me, or was that pretty darn fast? I thought I'd at least make it through my exams betore anything interesting happened.

EDIT: The young that hatched are collecting on and around the mother. Since she has been sitting on the sac constantly since it was made, is there a chance that her parental instinct will extend beyond that?

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

Many of her babies are still with her. There are only like four on the sand.