# Colombian Spider ID Please



## Pitter (Dec 31, 2014)

Can anyone id this spider that I photographed at my friend's place in Colombia? It was on some foam in his kitchen. It's about 10 cm long leg tip to leg tip and he said it has a _*very*_ nasty bite. Altitude about 4000 feet and temp about 80F. Sorry not great photos. The light was bad.


----------



## The Snark (Dec 31, 2014)

Could be phoneutria. Need eyes for positive ID on that. In order to properly ID one of the numerous known SA spiders, and to eliminate species as yet undescribed, we need to carefully go into the taxonomy to find traits specific to that animal. Have a look at> http://www.wandering-spiders.net/phoneutria/taxonomy/
It looks Ctenus but that is a very widely distributed and diverse genus.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Pitter (Dec 31, 2014)

Very interesting link. Thanks very much.


----------



## Philth (Jan 1, 2015)

At a first glance it does look like _Phoneutria_.  Cool spider.

Later, Tom

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Stan Schultz (Jan 1, 2015)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!



Pitter said:


> Can anyone id this spider that I photographed at my friend's place in Colombia? It was on some foam in his kitchen. It's about 10 cm long leg tip to leg tip and he said it has a _*very*_ nasty bite. Altitude about 4000 feet and temp about 80F. Sorry not great photos. The light was bad. ...


Actually, your photos are pretty good compared to some we get here. No need to apologize. It would, however, have been better of you'd offered a few from the side, front, and at an angle instead of all from the top.

My specialty is *Theraphosid tarantulas*, especially tarantula care, not the araneomorph spiders, so you need to take this with a grain of salt or maybe even the whole salt cellar, but most if not all *Phoneutria* (a.k.a., wandering spiders) have redish/orangish/yellowish chelicerae (the knuckle shaped appendages just below the eyes). You can see what I mean by looking at *Phoneutria images*. Note that not all the spiders shown there are really _Phoneutria_. (Yahoo! is not famous for its arachnology!)

There is another group of spiders that is commonly confused with _Phoneutria_ and vice versa, the huntsman spiders, *Heteropoda*. (See also *Heteropoda - Wikipedia*. To tell the difference for sure you need to be rather closely familiar with both kinds.

If you have any doubts or are concerned about them as health hazards, I suggest you take your little 8-legged friend to a local university entomology or biology department and ask for an ID down to genus. (ID to species may take months to get around to. ID to genus should be easy for anyone familiar with local spiders.)


Hope this helps.


____________________________________________________________________

Question: What's worse than finding a poisonous spider in your tent?

Answer: Losing a poisonous spider in your tent!
____________________________________________________________________

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## bluefrogtat2 (Jan 1, 2015)

female phounetria ....I would guess boliviensis(as it looks exactly like the ones I have raised)teleport bursts of speed!!!
great pics by the way

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## The Snark (Jan 1, 2015)

It's very easy to tell sparassids from ctenus and others at a glance if you familiarize yourself with how their legs are shaped and placed and the broad cephalothorax..
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nOFmliYYd...24/3Dwa9UpSdK0/s1600/heteropoda+venatoria.jpg

Reactions: Like 2


----------



## Pitter (Jan 1, 2015)

Thank you for all that information. I have some research to do now.


----------



## Smokehound714 (Jan 5, 2015)

Definitely a phoneutria!!  Careful!

  This is P. nigriventer, to be exact.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## The Snark (Jan 5, 2015)

Smokehound714 said:


> Definitely a phoneutria!!  Careful!
> 
> This is P. nigriventer, to be exact.


Okay, spill da beans, bozo. What are using going by for that ID? Some step by step guidelines for us hopelessly clueless please.


----------



## Smokehound714 (Jan 5, 2015)

The Snark said:


> Okay, spill da beans, bozo. What are using going by for that ID? Some step by step guidelines for us hopelessly clueless please.


Carapace pattern.  the black stripe is well defined in nigriventer.  boliviensis has additional black stripes radiating outward from the dorsal stripe on the carapace.


----------



## Pitter (Jan 5, 2015)

Evidently P. nigriventer isn't supposed to be native to Colombia so not sure about that. The spider was in my friend's kitchen and he said he'd seen them before. He didn't say he'd ever been bitten but claimed it would be a bad bite. His house is in sort of dry forest and he does have banana trees next to the kitchen. I'd have worked harder at getting better pictures had I know it was so interesting. Darn.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Smokehound714 (Jan 5, 2015)

Smokehound714 said:


> Carapace pattern.  the black stripe is well defined in nigriventer.  boliviensis has additional black stripes radiating outward from the dorsal stripe on the carapace.


quoting myself because I was wrong.  Lol it's probably not nigriventer, but definitely not boliviensis.  I'll stick to lycosidae when it comes to being a know-it-all. lool

 boliviensis lacks markings on the carapace, which is a brown/maroon color.  Nigriventer has *red* chelicerae and a jet black belly.


   I have no idea what this is.


----------



## The Snark (Jan 5, 2015)

Smokehound714 said:


> quoting myself because I was wrong.  Lol it's probably not nigriventer, but definitely not boliviensis.  I'll stick to lycosidae when it comes to being a know-it-all. lool
> 
> boliviensis lacks markings on the carapace, which is a brown/maroon color.  Nigriventer has *red* chelicerae and a jet black belly.
> 
> ...


[SUB](Psst! It's a spider!)[/SUB]

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## freedumbdclxvi (Jan 5, 2015)

http://www.academia.edu/9242935/Nat...r_postembryonic_development_and_prey-wrapping

P boliviensis varies in markings - some have none and some have similar to the above.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## The Snark (Jan 6, 2015)

P boliviensis can read maps and carry GPS. They are officially reported in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia but avoid Brazil.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Pitter (Jan 9, 2015)

Very interesting link. That study was carried out in my neck of the woods.


----------



## freedumbdclxvi (Jan 9, 2015)

The Snark said:


> P boliviensis can read maps and carry GPS. They are officially reported in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia but avoid Brazil.


i hear it's because P fera and P nigreventer beat them up and take their lunch money.


----------



## Kees Hood (Apr 22, 2015)

This is a poisinous banana spider can kill wif only on tuch!!!!!                   jk [emoji6]


----------

