# Sphodros niger photoshoot



## WithCerberus (Dec 25, 2005)

Here is my fat little girl after I changed her enclosure today. She has grown a lotsince the last time I unearthed her. Enjoy  



















peace,

Bobby


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## bistrobob85 (Dec 25, 2005)

Wow, nice color and huge mouth parts!!!! How big is she?!?!


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## WithCerberus (Dec 25, 2005)

she is about 2 cm in body length.  

peace,

Bobby


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## WithCerberus (Dec 25, 2005)

*2 more pics*













peace,

Bobby


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## Cigarman (Dec 26, 2005)

whoa, do NOT upset the lady!


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## Anthony (Dec 26, 2005)

Holy Moley! Now that is a set of fangs, be careful


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## Scolopendra55 (Dec 27, 2005)

Where did you get that? Those are the most feresome fangs I have ever seen


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## WithCerberus (Dec 27, 2005)

I found her after long hours of searching in western Kentucky. She had her tube in a stream bank attached to a Christmas fern. The pictures look pretty fearsome but she is only a little squirt. This is an older pic of her so you can see her size.







Bobby


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## hamfoto (Dec 27, 2005)

she's cute!!! but geez, those fangs are as long as her legs are!

cool...

Chris


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## Tegenaria (Dec 28, 2005)

Fantastic!


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## WithCerberus (Dec 29, 2005)

*and she is hidden again...*

Her new tube that she has built. 













peace,

Bobby


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## David_F (Dec 30, 2005)

Great pics of an impressive spider, Bobby.  Congrats on finding her as well.  I spent a bit of time last spring and summer looking for a couple Sphodros spp. around here with no luck.  Can't wait for spring to get here so I can get out and look some more.

Have you ever been able to breed any Sphodros spp.?


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## WithCerberus (Dec 30, 2005)

I know first hand how frustrating it can be to look for these guys. Don't give up though. How close are you to the west campus of theUniversity of Kansas?
If you are veryclose there is a journal article that pretty much pinpoints the location of a group of _Sphodros fitchi_. If you want more info on this article pm me and I'll get it to you.

peace,
Bobby


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## Bok (Dec 30, 2005)

Wow!Can see it fangs long n sharp.


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## David_F (Jan 1, 2006)

WithCerberus said:
			
		

> If you are veryclose there is a journal article that pretty much pinpoints the location of a group of _Sphodros fitchi_. If you want more info on this article pm me and I'll get it to you.
> 
> peace,
> Bobby


I think I'm a couple hours away from the west campus.  Curious to see if S. fitchi is found around here (Manhattan).  

Thanks for the offer but I think I have the paper you mention (spiderling dispersal, Cutler & Guarisco?).  Good stuff in it.  Will be looking for a couple other papers at the K State library soon.   

Once again, great pics.  Very cool little spiders.


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## WithCerberus (Jan 2, 2006)

That would be the one 8)

Bobby


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## WithCerberus (Feb 7, 2006)

*confused little girl*

Ok, since I have moved her to a new and larger enclosure my little girl seems a bit confused. She has spun a sheet web and runs across it like a funnel web (which is pretty cool to see)! This has me a little bit worried though, since it is not normal behavior. She is eating though which is good.





peace,
Bobby


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## WithCerberus (Feb 9, 2006)

*angry little spider*

i decided to make another starter burrow for her. She happily went in and started working on her new tube but she was pretty pissed off none the less.
enjoy the pics.

















peace,
Bobby


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## Malhavoc's (Feb 9, 2006)

Perhaps too moist, Shes adapting to the fact that she hasn't found a suitable funnel location yet, give her time she'll settle in. Its one of those "Well if I see no place to put a house, I'll make a tent and lay on the grass"


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## WithCerberus (Feb 9, 2006)

It might be that it is too moist but I doubt it. Her new enclusure is no more damp than her last ones. Since I have taken those pics she has already built her new tube.

bobby


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## heyjeyniceid (Feb 13, 2006)

WithCerberus,

What is your camera and settings for pictures with white backgrounds?


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## Stylopidae (Feb 13, 2006)

Bobby...is that a WC spider?

That seems like a cool pet. I wouldn't mind having one.


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## WithCerberus (Feb 13, 2006)

@evil cheshire- yes this is a WC spider and they do make pretty cool pets. It is awesome to watch them feed. Unfortunately for enthusiast and fortunately for the spiders they are very hard to find. This spider was my holy grail while I was working in Kentucky.

@heyjeyniceid- I used a Pentax Optio S50 5MP set on the super-macro mode to take these pics. The background is just a matte plastic sheet. I did have to clean the pics up with photoshop a bit though. 

peace,
Bobby


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## Malkavian (Feb 14, 2006)

how does one go about hunting for those? Just check everywhere that might be a suitable location for a tube?


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## WithCerberus (Feb 14, 2006)

the easiest way is to get your hands on some of the journal articles and go to the places where they have been recorded in the past. Other than that, yeah you pretty much look all over the suitable habitat for a tube. i found the girl in this thread in the mossy bank of a creek. 
peace,
Bobby


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## Stylopidae (Feb 15, 2006)

I'm working from a school computer that doesn't have adobe reader, so I can't get the actual article.

I believe this might help with the range (will someone please post and tell me if this species occurrs in Iowa?)

http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_tocs/JOA_contents_v14n1.html

It is the second entry under research notes

Another:

http://kaston.transy.edu/spiderlist/atyplist.htm

Another one from this forum that I found while google-bombing

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/printthread.php?t=24124

Not niger (SPHODROS RUFIPES), but in the same genus:

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=...=sphodros+niger&d=VPuDzG1aMQHE&icp=1&.intl=us


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## WithCerberus (Feb 15, 2006)

I checked the 1980 Gertsch and Platnick paper and at the time of the article none of the Sphodros species had been collected in Iowa. Iowa does seem to be in the range of S.niger and S.fitchi though. I wouldn't be surprized ifsome have popped up since that paper.

peace,
Bobby


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