# Yellowstone spiders



## Scolopendra55 (Aug 7, 2006)

I'm going to be in Yellowstone for 8 days and was wondering what type of arachnids I may be able to find. Im not going to be collecting in the park just in the surrounding country just in case anybodys wondering.


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## Scolopendra55 (Aug 11, 2006)

Does anybody know?


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## Scarp172 (Aug 11, 2006)

Off the top of my head this is about all I can give you, sorry for the broad Family groupings, but since this is such a diverse ecosystem, listing each species indiginous to the area would take many pages!  There are many thermophilic spiders that hang around the thermal features in the park and if you're lucky you can probably see some when nobody else is around.  But in general you may find:

 Spiders- Latrodectus hesperus, Latrodectus variolus, Steatoda sp., various species from the Araneidae family (Orb weavers), Tegenaria agrestis (Hobo spider), Loxoscelidae family (Recluse), Lycosidae family (Wolf Spiders), Salticidae family (Jumping spiders),Thomisidae (crab spiders).

Scorpions- Paruoctonus Boreus 

Centipedes- Lithobius forficatus 

For some interesting pictures of yellowstone arachnid try here

Also if by "the surrounding country" you mean West Yellowstone or Gardiner it's starting to cool off, so it may be difficult to find many species, but I wish you good luck and hope that this helps you a bit!
-Steve 
(in Bozeman, MT)


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## Scolopendra55 (Aug 12, 2006)

Where around there can I find A.hentzi?


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## Scarp172 (Aug 12, 2006)

Actually, as far as I know- you can't.  I'm not sure why those three pictures of tarantulas are in that set, but I wasn't aware that any Aphonopelma spp.  lived this far North.  I'm not sure those are A. Hentzi, but most likely an Aphonopelma spp.  I've seen many of the same species in the photos in Southern Nevada, but never this far North.  I may be wrong, but sorry if that misled you and got your hopes up.  (Although if it DOES turn out that they live near here, you can bet I'll be going on a collecting trip or two next summer!)
-Steve


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