# ID this black spider



## bluephosi (Mar 17, 2011)

Hi,
I took this picture 3-4 years ago. I think its some sort of crab spider.


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## loxoscelesfear (Mar 17, 2011)

An orb weaver, family Araneidae.  sure someone on here will know which one it is.


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## John Apple (Mar 17, 2011)

Araneus cavaticus...dark form


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## Moltar (Mar 17, 2011)

Wow, that's neat. A plain, blackishish Araneus... appealing in much the same way as a G. pulchra. Nice pic!


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## ZergFront (Mar 17, 2011)

Huh, a black garden spider? I see a very vague cross..


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## bluephosi (Mar 18, 2011)

I did a search on google for Araneus cavaticus and it says its the common barn spider. But none of them looks black. Im curious to how a spider is identified. I noticed in the front there is a gap down the middle because i can see white background.  can species of spiders change color?
Heres a closer look.


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## Moltar (Mar 18, 2011)

ZergFront said:


> Huh, a black garden spider? I see a very vague cross..


Garden Spiders (zig-zag web spiders) are Argiope. Araneus are the nocturnal orb weavers who do the huge webs on porches and low hanging branches. Cat Faced spiders...


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## Kruggar (Jul 6, 2011)

I'll bring this thread back to life...  
I've been working on several Araneus cavaticus variant illustrations, so I've been looking at this species quite a bit and this particular one is quite amazing! It's got all the same markings but everything is really black! It's like its the extreme and this is the other:







Love this species of spider!   so much! I wonder what would happen if two with these genes bred, :? are they like calico cats?


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## jsloan (Jul 7, 2011)

bluephosi said:


> I did a search on google for Araneus cavaticus and it says its the common barn spider. But none of them looks black. Im curious to how a spider is identified. I noticed in the front there is a gap down the middle because i can see white background.  can species of spiders change color?
> Heres a closer look.


According to the latest checklist for the Spiders of Canada (May, 2010), _Araneus cavaticus_ isn't found in BC (In Canada that species is found only in ON, QB, NB, and NS), so this spider is something else.

Unless you've worked with a lot of these spiders and can recognize them as they appear in all their variations, orb weavers like this one have to be identified to species by examining the palps in adult males or the epigyne in adult females.  I've identified several _Araneus sp._ orb weavers that way, but am not familiar with the general appearance of this one so I'd have to examine the specimen under a microscope to determine the species.  

Nice spider!

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Kruggar said:


> I'll bring this thread back to life...
> I've been working on several Araneus cavaticus variant illustrations, so I've been looking at this species quite a bit and this particular one is quite amazing! It's got all the same markings but everything is really black! It's like its the extreme and this is the other:


This also is not an _A. cavaticus_.  It's either an _A. diadematus_ or an _A. marmoreus_ (both can have the cross on the back of the abdomen).


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## Kruggar (Jul 7, 2011)

jsloan said:


> According to the latest checklist for the Spiders of Canada (May, 2010), _Araneus cavaticus_ isn't found in BC (In Canada that species is found only in ON, QB, NB, and NS), so this spider is something else.
> 
> Unless you've worked with a lot of these spiders and can recognize them as they appear in all their variations, orb weavers like this one have to be identified to species by examining the palps in adult males or the epigyne in adult females.  I've identified several _Araneus sp._ orb weavers that way, but am not familiar with the general appearance of this one so I'd have to examine the specimen under a microscope to determine the species.
> 
> ...


 Realllllly! :8o well then I may just have to have some of my reference properly identified wall: stupid complicated spider genera) before I go mislabelling things.


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