# Spider ID Please



## NiGHTS (Nov 6, 2005)

Sorry, but I'm a total spider noob.  As me about millipedes, and we can talk...but when it comes to spiders, I don't have a clue.  

OK, so on Halloween night I found this interesting spider outside my front door.  I live in Northern California, in a rural area near Santa Cruz, and I have never seen a spider like this around my area before.  From the body shape, it almost appears to be a tarantula...but again, I haven't a clue.  Can anyone out there help me ID this little guy?  And does anyone know if this is a local California species?

The spider is about 1 inch in size, and the cage that the spider is in measures 7" x 4", so you can get a visual size reference.  The real-life coloration of the spider is a bit more tan in spots, but the picture is pretty close to what he actually looks like.

Thanks in advance!


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## NickS1004 (Nov 6, 2005)

hmmm.. looks like one of those shiny grey tunneling spiders ive seen on a few dealer's websites


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## esmoot (Nov 6, 2005)

It is a Calistoga spider. 90% chance a mature male that won't live long. It would be best to let him go where you found him.


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## taorchard1987 (Nov 12, 2005)

if youre going to keep him, provide about 4-5" of substrate from the carapace on him it looks like a burrowing sp.


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## Scorpendra (Nov 12, 2005)

NickS1004 said:
			
		

> hmmm.. looks like one of those shiny grey tunneling spiders ive seen on a few dealer's websites


an uncanny resemblance, but the odds are stacked against finding one wild in Cali.


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## PhormictopusMan (Nov 12, 2005)

Actually from what I've been finding (I found a similar spider recently and have a thread about it on this same board.)  it is a _Calisoga longitarsus_, (note no T in the genus.)  In some literature it is referred to as _Brachythele longitarsus_.  I found a common name of "funnel-web tarantula".  It is from the family Nemesiidae, which is a "cousin" to Theraphosidae.  Both are in the group Mygalomorphae and are large and generally primitive.  


Some pictures of the specimen I found:
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=55264


--Chris


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## PhormictopusMan (Nov 13, 2005)

Here are some links:

http://www.bugpeople.org/taxa/Arachnida/Calisoga_longitarsis/Calisoga_longitarsisPage.htm

http://www.bio.sdsu.edu/pub/spiders/Aty/Pages/Image9.html

http://www.bio.sdsu.edu/pub/spiders/Atyp2003/Atyp2003-Pages/Image24.html

http://forum.insecthobbyist.com/tarantulas/messages/3217.html


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## Steven (Nov 13, 2005)

i've been searching for some of those since a long time   
Never got many respons   

2 year old topic


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## PhormictopusMan (Nov 13, 2005)

Steven said:
			
		

> i've been searching for some of those since a long time
> Never got many respons
> 
> 2 year old topic


I am going to try and get some photos of them in their natural habitat.  
We're planning a backpack trip over Thanksgiving weekend, and will be keeping an eye out--I have a suspicion of where we will find them and if its right then they have been right under our noses.  Apparantly these guys will make a fanlike web with a tube that goes into a burrow.  They commonly build these things along cut roads and burms, or the sides of inclines.

As a note-I find a lot more information on google searches using the spelling longitarsis, versus longitarsus.  Im not sure which is correct.

--Chris


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## Steven (Nov 13, 2005)

Thanx PhormictopusMan
would really be intrested in some pix of their natural habitats   

and in the The World Spider Catalog by Norman I. Platnick
there is indeed note of _Brachythele longitarsis _ 
but also 3 other Calisoga spec. from the US:
C.centronetha, C.sacra and C.theveneti

def. intresting spiders !!!


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## esmoot (Nov 13, 2005)

I live in the Sacramento Valley and I was told that C. sacra was probably the ones I have. One funny thing to note about these spiders. If you are going to try and find some in the wild, don't use water to try and get them out of their burrow. They are not like a t and will not come out with water.


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## NiGHTS (Nov 13, 2005)

PhormictopusMan - I live up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near the summit (half way between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz).  That's where I found the Calistoga spider.  He was sitting outside on the front porch one night.  Just out of curiousity, where were you thinking you might be able to see these guys in the wild around our area?


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## PhormictopusMan (Nov 14, 2005)

Well right now the males are wandering because it seems to be mating season.  My thoughts were to check out some places at Henry Coe State Park, as I have planned to be there anyway.  I want to also start checking around the local parks near my home in the Cupertino Foothills.  I figure if he wandered into my living room, more of him/her can't be far.  I'll also ask some of the local rangers--They usually give me some pretty good information.

--Chris


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