ID time again.

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CustomNature

Arachnosquire
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I was wondering what these spiders were. They were under an old rotted out piece of ply wood that was the floor boards in an old shed. One of them was very large infact. Easily about an inch and a quarter from front to back. There were also a few odd looking structures that I figured were egg sacs. Below is a picture of the spider in question and the strange structure.
 

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pitbulllady

pitbulllady

Arachnoking
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The spider is a female Kukulcania hibernalis, also known as a "Black House Spider", "Black Hole Spider". or "Crevice Web Weaver". That is an eggsac in the first pic with her, but I'm not really sure about the second pic. It looks molded, whatever it is, so it could be an infertile eggsac or a bit of leftover food that the spider hung out to get rid of it. These spiders are big, easily as large as most Wolf Spiders, but are very docile, and about as tarantula-like as you can get with a "true spider". I have two big girls I'm keeping, and a large colony on the place that I can observe and photograph. With good Macro photography you will be able to see that their hairs, especially on the legs, are irridescent-very pretty.

pitbulllady
 
Stylopidae

Stylopidae

Arachnoking
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That fuzzy ball could be a parasitic fungus that affects spiders...although I've only seen that happen in flies.
 
NRF

NRF

Arachnoknight
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pitbulllady said:
The spider is a female Kukulcania hibernalis, also known as a "Black House Spider", "Black Hole Spider". or "Crevice Web Weaver".
Click to expand...
Now it's my time to make the question. Why is it a K. hibernalis? Shouldn't females also have kind of enlarged pedipalps? Why isn't it some kind of Amaurobiid? Just asking. I don't know anything about Kukulcania but I just have a feeling that it has a different habitus.
 
NRF

NRF

Arachnoknight
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Could the fuzzy ball be a moulted skin which have moulded?
 
pitbulllady

pitbulllady

Arachnoking
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NRF said:
Now it's my time to make the question. Why is it a K. hibernalis? Shouldn't females also have kind of enlarged pedipalps? Why isn't it some kind of Amaurobiid? Just asking. I don't know anything about Kukulcania but I just have a feeling that it has a different habitus.
Click to expand...

No, female K. hibernalis do not have enlarged pedipalps, though those of the male are extremely long and jut out in front like the prow of a Viking longship. The eye arrangement is right, along with the very reflective eyes, the coloration is right, the eggsac and most especially, that loose, messy type of webbing all are good indicators of K. hibernalis, which is the only true spider species I keep at the present. These are also quite large spiders, and the size given by the first poster is consistent with an average-sized female K. hibernalis(they can be larger). K. hibernalis are typically found underneath things like boards, inside old sheds, garages, or barns, and of course, inside houses-wherever they can find a dark retreat. If I want to find one, the first place I'd look would be under or behind an old rotting piece of plyboard, especially if it was underneath a garage or other shelter, but I have also found them underneath logs and such outdoors in the open. I've photographed many of them underneath layers of roofing shingles that my grandfather covered a tool shed with years ago, and inside spaces in between boards on old buildings. The larger of the two females I have was captured underneath an overturned washtub outside in the shrubbery, and I relocated one this afternoon from behind a painting on a wall in my sister's house. She didn't know it was even there, but I noticed some of that webbing sticking out around one edge of the frame, lifted up the picture, and there she was!

pitbulllady
 
L

lucanidae

Arachnoprince
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I'm going to have to agree with NRF and question K. hibernalis.

http://www.samford.edu/schools/artsci/biology/zoology/invertzoo-05f/pages/94.htm

Look at the elongated/thickend palps on this female. Also check out the cephalathorax shape, it is more rounded and comes to a point before the chelicerae, while the spider pictured has a blunt end in front of the chelicerae.

Here's another picture that isn't as good, but you can see the enlarged first segment of the palps and the general ceph. shape.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/19148/bgimage
 
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spinnekop

Arachnosquire
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HoldThePickle, the spider you show is an Amaurobidae.
Definitely not Kukulcania. Filistatidae like Kukulcania have their eyes grouped together on top of their Crapace while the eyes of Amaurobius are positioned wide on the front. Kukulcania hides in a tube-like web. The web of Amourobidae is chaotic.

For your info, see some example here:
http://entomo-photo.naturalforum.net/ftopic48.Amaurobius-ferox.htm

http://www.naturefg.com/pages/c-animals/amaurobius%20sp.htm

http://www.samford.edu/schools/artsci/biology/invert04f/pages/51.htm
 
Venom

Venom

Arachnoprince
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It is absolutely 100% Amaurobius, sp. ferox. Good one NRF, lucanidae !
 
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