# ID from BC



## Mack&Cass (May 13, 2010)

Hi all, our Arachno-pen-pal sent us another interesting spider.












If any specific shots can help with the ID let me know and I will try to get them.
Thanks in advance.

Mackenzie


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## Crysta (May 13, 2010)

woodlouse spider looks like to me, due to the big woodlouse, beetle killing chompers! xD he looks like a he and probably searching for a female? Couldn't tell you which one it is though, too many haha...


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## Widowman10 (May 13, 2010)

hmmm, not a crocata... can't really point you in a better direction though. i'm sure someone will know it right away. i assume it was collected in canada though, right?


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## Mack&Cass (May 13, 2010)

Widowman10 said:


> hmmm, not a crocata... can't really point you in a better direction though. i'm sure someone will know it right away. i assume it was collected in canada though, right?


Yeah it was. 

Cass


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## Moltar (May 13, 2010)

Wow, lookit them choppahs!


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## Crysta (May 13, 2010)

Widowman10 said:


> hmmm, not a crocata... can't really point you in a better direction though. i'm sure someone will know it right away. i assume it was collected in canada though, right?


Their chomps remind of me them haha


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## Malhavoc's (May 13, 2010)

looking at body shape and spinerrets, I would assume this spider lives in a pouch of webbing that it hunts out of, That would be a good reason for elongated chelicera (I love sounding smart.) Id however, I have none. but shall begin to search


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## mitchnast (May 13, 2010)

It was found under some flat rocks at the base of a south facing talus-slope in an arid basin.  Sagebrush-bunchgrass and ponderosa pine area.

It was indeed in a pouch of webbing attached to the underside of the rock.


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## Malhavoc's (May 13, 2010)

It looks to be related to the yellow sac spider, I could notfind much but thebody type does say alot hopefuly someone with atouch morek nowledgewill come around, though I still amdigging through my audobon 


My book had nodda. Nothing that even looked similiar, however. to narrow the list down this site may be helpful

http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/spiders_list.htm


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## jsloan (May 13, 2010)

It's not one of the yellow sac spiders (_Cheiracanthium_) because those do not have any forward-pointing hairs on the front of the abdomen; looks like this one does (visible as a dark fringe, especially in the second picture).  

My first impression is _Clubiona sp._ (Clubionidae).  Nice spider!


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## Malhavoc's (May 13, 2010)

Going through photos looks like your right jsloan nice one  and yes very nice spider indeed.

More pictures of the clubiona sp.

http://www.teknofokus.fi/Luonto/Araneida/Clubionidae/Clubionidae01.htm


Edit: a more useful sitefor the sp. http://delta-intkey.com/britsp/www/clubioni.htm


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## TheTyro (May 13, 2010)

I think i've found it.

Drassodes neglectus, or something in the Drassodes family.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/98705/bgimage

Has the same sort of chelicerae, although this one is not neglectus, but lapidosus.

http://www.jorgenlissner.dk/images\Pictures\Drassodes_lapidosus_han_2899.jpg

and one of the pictures in Rod's journal shows the spider in its retreat. Although none of the specimens pictured on bugguide were found in BC, the one in Rod's journal was found close to the border!

http://crawford.tardigrade.net/journal/album7936.html


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## jsloan (May 13, 2010)

Malhavoc's said:


> Going through photos looks like your right jsloan nice one


I wish!    Looks like TheTyro was right on this one.  

According to Dondale and Redner, ("The Ground Spiders of Canada and Alaska"), _D. neglectus_ has been collected in BC (and I have found it in Alberta).


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## Malhavoc's (May 13, 2010)

Nah I did comparison too and thought you were right,so. Put my foot in my mouth too. lol


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## TheTyro (May 13, 2010)

The Clubonia spiders do look a lot like the Drassodes though...but like a shinier, softer looking version of them.


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## jsloan (Dec 13, 2010)

Here are a male and female _D. neglectus_ from Alberta, for comparision with the OP's spider.  The male is above and the female is below.  I put them together a few days ago and they later mated.  I was able to identify the male from its palp:


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## revilo (Dec 14, 2010)

hi,

to distinguish for example the clubiona spp. (clubionidae) from the drassodes spp. (gnaphosidae) it's possible to use the shape of the spinnerets.

the clubionidae have cone shaped (smaller to the end) spinnerets which are close together when not in use. 
the gnaphosidae spinnerets are cylindrical shaped and parallel together or spread like fingers when not in use (good to see in the pic from jsloan).
additional the pme (posterior median eyes) often times are NOT round in gnaphosidae, they are more oval or angular. 

source of information is bellmann 2010.

hope this was a tiny help.

regards, oli


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## jsloan (Dec 14, 2010)

revilo said:


> the gnaphosidae spinnerets are cylindrical shaped and parallel together or spread like fingers when not in use (good to see in the pic from jsloan).


This picture is misleading on that point.  The female shown above was actively building a web as I took the photo, which is why her spinnerets were spread out like that.  In repose the spinnerets are held together and look much different.  Ill see if I have another picture.


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## jsloan (Dec 14, 2010)

Here is a picture of the same female, taken when she was not building a web:


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## revilo (Dec 14, 2010)

hi jsloan,

thanks for your tip ! a nice picture btw 

...spread like fingers OR *parallel *together...
in clubionidae they are more triangle shaped together, i think. 

the shape of the single spinneret (conical or cylindrical) is maybe more important - but cross my heart, i'm not really the man for this 
i only was repeating what i was reading, i never was compareing close to close 2 specimens of both genus/families.

how big in bl are the specimens on your pics ? they are really neat looking !

bye, oli


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## jsloan (Dec 15, 2010)

revilo said:


> how big in bl are the specimens on your pics ? they are really neat looking !


I measured the male at bl = 10 mm, from the front edge of the carapace to the end of the abdomen (excluding both spinnerets and cheliercae).  I haven't measured the female yet, but she's a little bit larger.

Yes, they are striking spiders!  They appear more velvety in life than they do in the pictures.

Here's a picture of the two of them mating.  The male cradled the female upside down in his "lap" while he was laying on his back!  From that position he inserted his palps (I didn't see how they actually got into this position in the first place, so I wonder if they might have fallen from the side or roof of the container and ended up like this?):







This 2nd picture was taken looking down on them from directly overhead:


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## Tarantula_Hawk (Dec 15, 2010)

While the spinnerets can sometimes be misleading, the ocular disposition (especially the posterior median eyes) is not. It's very different between the two genera and can be used to easily distinguish the two. 
Like the whole Gnaphosoidea, Gnaphosidea have irregularly shaped PM's, usually pretty close to each other and with a translucent appearence.  
Clubionidae as a whole have regularly shaped PM's (i.e. rounded), equally spaced between each other.


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