Hi I am new to achnoboards. I recently found this spider around my house, and was wondering if anyone could help me identify it... I live in paradise, CA, which is in Northern california, up in the hills. Elevation of around 2000 feet I believe, The area is mostly forest and high desert. if that helps at all....
Help /w I.D.
- Thread starter Shadown
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Random shot in the dark : Loxosceles
Probably wrong ;*) Who knows, I think I see violin<
Probably wrong ;*) Who knows, I think I see violin<
I thought so at first too, but with a little research I found that brown recluse have hairy legs, and dont have a really shiny carapace like this one does.... still, i could be wrong.... I still have no clue... I also just found another spider thats crazy looking, I swear it was about 0.5" long (legs and all) and completely semi-translucent pink!Ant Worker said:
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Nope. :wall:Ant Worker said:
Now my turn for a wild guess.
How about a mature male Steatoda sp.?
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David_F said:Nope. :wall:
Now my turn for a wild guess.
How about a mature male Steatoda sp.?
David F is absolutely right. Its a male Steatoda.
That is a male steatoda albomaculatus from http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/cobweb_spiders_theridiidae
The first pair of legs is much longer than the last pair; which is normal for that genus. That dosen't seem to be the case for the spider in the picture.
How do you know/figure the mystery spider in the picture is a steatoda is my question?
Neither the females nor the males from the given link above really resembles the spider I have... The male Steatoda Albomaculatus is closest match, but markings on back are different. could it simply be a sub adult? But it seems like the body of mine is more elongated than rounded....lucanidae said:
That is a male steatoda albomaculatus from http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/cobweb_spiders_theridiidae
The first pair of legs is much longer than the last pair; which is normal for that genus. That dosen't seem to be the case for the spider in the picture.
How do you know/figure the mystery spider in the picture is a steatoda is my question?
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Try Steatoda grossa or S. triangulosa (not saying it's definitely either of those species...just that they are similar). The abdomen will look elongated in older mature males simply because they don't eat very much after maturity.Shadown said:
lucanidae....put down the books and go outside. You'll learn more about spiders by actually observing them than you will by reading through species keys.
Though I do envy you being able to study spiders in a university setting.Little bit of academic envy huh? I can assure you that I have done plenty of field observation and collecting, perhaps a lot more than you realize. I have also done plenty of in lab identification, although mostly not to species level, I tend to stop around genus. And, no one has answered my question as to how the pictured spider was tentively ID'd as Steatoda....
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Careful, now. I think you're reading a bit more into my last post than you should be. You can believe whatever you'd like. I don't care whether I'm right or you're right.lucanidae said:
Why do I think it's Steatoda? Carapace shape (did you bother to look at that?), leg length (not my fault you can't seem to count leg segments), and abdominal pattern (pattern not coloration). A good shot of the eyes would, I think, clear things up. I don't have the keys nor do I have the immense amount of experience all 18 years of life have bestowed upon you but I do have a pretty good head on my shoulders.
Regardless of what you think, it's not a Kukulcania sp. If you want to keep bashing your head into the wall proving that it is, please, continue to do so.I was asking how you identified it, and instead you decided to insult me. You didn't tell me how you IDed it until I asked again. When you ID a spider, you should support it somehow. It is more constructive to say, it is this because of 1 2 and 3, not just, it is this. And I wasn't bashing my head trying to prove that it was Filistatidae, I didn't even continue this point, I just asked how you IDed it and said the legs didn't look the same. Oh, and do true spiders have different numbers of leg segments, because I thought they all had the same number of segments of varying length....
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If you thought what I said was an insult...well.....you must have missed something (psst...see the *wink* smiley?). Seems to me you have very thin skin. Can't take a bit of ribbing?lucanidae said:
My first post was a guess. Did you miss that part as well? You see, the reason I didn't support my guess was because that's all it was.....based on having seen multiple specimens of Steatoda spp. I could be wrong and won't have any problem admitting it if I am.lucanidae said:
How you came up with Filistatidae in the first place is mind-boggling.lucanidae said:
When the first pair of legs appear to have segments hidden by the way the spider is standing then they will look shorter than they actually are. If something doesn't look right it usually pays to take a closer look.lucanidae said:
You can have the last word. I'm done. This is going nowhere and I'm about off work anyway.
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I'm with David_F and NRF here, this totally looks like a Steatoda sp.!
Members of the Filistatidae have exceptionally long pedipalps in both sexes btw
(aside from a very characteristic prosoma-shape), which the specimen on the picture does not have!
greets
Bernhard
Members of the Filistatidae have exceptionally long pedipalps in both sexes btw
(aside from a very characteristic prosoma-shape), which the specimen on the picture does not have!
greets
Bernhard
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How do you know/figure the mystery spider in the picture is a steatoda is my question?[/QUOTE]
It is not any mystery. It is only based on experience. Nor was Davis F´s "wild guess" a guess. If it wasn't from experience it would not be possible to make such a good guess as his.
Steatoda is in fact not only one genus. It was previously devided in several genuses but Levi (1957) grouped them together, though in different subgroups. In future I'm sure they will be split again. Both S. triangulosa and S. grossa belonged to the genus Teutana, and they are different from and more closely related to each other than to the other Steatoda spp. Males of both species have very long hind legs and I fully agree with David F that the photo is either species. My little experience of males of S. triangulosa do not allow me to tell which of these two species is in question.
S. albomaculata in not a good sp. for typical Steatoda. It also belonged in a separate genus (Lithyphantes) apart from the real Steatoda s (bipunctata, borealis, hespera). And the photo you provided is a subadult specimens, and leg proportions in male Steatoda spp. will change dramaticly after the last molt...
It is not any mystery. It is only based on experience. Nor was Davis F´s "wild guess" a guess. If it wasn't from experience it would not be possible to make such a good guess as his.
Steatoda is in fact not only one genus. It was previously devided in several genuses but Levi (1957) grouped them together, though in different subgroups. In future I'm sure they will be split again. Both S. triangulosa and S. grossa belonged to the genus Teutana, and they are different from and more closely related to each other than to the other Steatoda spp. Males of both species have very long hind legs and I fully agree with David F that the photo is either species. My little experience of males of S. triangulosa do not allow me to tell which of these two species is in question.
S. albomaculata in not a good sp. for typical Steatoda. It also belonged in a separate genus (Lithyphantes) apart from the real Steatoda s (bipunctata, borealis, hespera). And the photo you provided is a subadult specimens, and leg proportions in male Steatoda spp. will change dramaticly after the last molt...