Latrodectus (Theridiidae) Picture Thread

[Rich Hoyer]

Bolivian Widow ID

Hi All,

This is my first post, and I hope a question on ID on wild spiders is not out of order here. I've done quite a bit of searching photos on the web and can't come to a solid conclusion on the ID of the following widow. She was found under a rock in southern Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia about a week ago. More precisely it was at -20°11.796', -63°19.485'. You can plug in these coodinates in at http://maps.google.com to see the location.

It resembles Latrodectus curacaviensis in many ways, but the red bands on mine are separate, unlike in many of the photos I've found of that species. I haven't seen any photos showing the underside of the abdomen in that species. It also looks like it could be L. corallinus (the square spot on the belly is a good match), but there are even fewer photos of that species available, and it's mentioned only for Argentina. (Not like anyone has done extensive searches for spiders in southern Bolivia...)

Thanks for your time.

Regards,

Rich
---

 

[buthus]

Does she seem full grown? Thinking she may be a corallinus with a molt to go.
Yep, not enough images of this specie (and many others for that matter) available.





$$$? :?

 

[KUJordan]

Holy Crap Rich! Steven's right, it looks a ton like L. corallinus. How did you get that!? That's an awesome spider.

 

[swatc1h]

Rich took them via Wild.


I wish to buthus
$$$$$$$$$$$$ Bohahahhaha

 

[Rich Hoyer]

Under A Rock

Like I said, she was just under a rock on the side of the road. I was leading a birding & botanizing tour at the time, and my co-leader, Greg, lifted the rock and found her. We all thought she was beautiful and took photos, then moved on. (Well, actually, we didn't move on until over an hour later, as our bus was mired in mud, but that's another story). In any event, I have no experience telling the age of widows, but I can say that she didn't seem to have a very large living area under the rock and didn't have an egg sac, so she could have been a subadult. Sorry I didn't even think to collect her, let alone get all the permits necessary.

Rich

 

[buthus]

Sorry I didn't even think to collect her, let alone get all the permits necessary.

Rich

Naw..you're just being a good naturalist!
Your pics made my week. Keep em coming!

 

[Peter Grabowitz]

Latrodectus 13-gutattus slings

 

[gunslinger]

Hey Buthus,

Who won the showdown?

 

[buthus]

Hey Buthus,

Who won the showdown?

 

[buthus]

Hey Buthus,

Who won the showdown?

Did you choose wisely?

 

[Techuser]

Geometricus:

The big shot is the only one after the last moult, the abdomen lost most of markings and became clearer

 

[Rizzolo]

nice geo

Techuser, those are beautiful pics. i like the penultimate details. great job!

 

[mackids]

L.Tredecimguttas. I was just testing out my new SLR camera

 

[8+)]

L. bishopi slings drinking

This one made a cool spherical web. The next molt identified it as a male.

 

[SnakeManJohn]

Just caught it last night, almost stepped on it barefooted!

L. mactans:

 

[8+)]

USB Micro of Dead bishopi

bishopi sling 1

bishopi sling 2

Notice the missing leg which I then found webbed over in the mesh.

 

[brachy]

Hi

Male

female

 

[buthus]

Nice treds! Looks like a match made in heaven.

 

[8+)]

Palps

I'm often actually excited about getting to use my USB Microscope, but not in this case! What puzzles me is that this was one of the younger ones. It's my fault, I discovered his prey still alive in the cup.

I pretty sure this guy was not mature:

 

[buthus]

Maybe starved, but sometimes they just arent meant to make it. In the wild, I bet environmental and nutritional factors alone reduce survival rate to less than 20%. Then add other spiders and other preds, along with accidents such as drowning and the survival rate probably gets down to 5% or even less.
Ive been babying a couple broods of pals and even though Im frickn hand feeding them and checking on them once every couple days, I still find at least a few dead every week or so. These are much more wimpy than most, but even with hesps, I doubt I could ever achieve 100% survival rate ...maybe 90% if I was REALLY on the ball and the genetic line was strong.
As for bishopi slings, Im finding them to be decent candidates for longer term communal rearing. ...probably up til around 3rd instar or so. This makes things much easier once they are separated.

I still cant believe I have bishopi right here in front of me ...and pals for cripe sake!
Neshan stopped by today and we were talking about the hobby of keeping latros. We were trying to fathom a guess to how many serious latro keepers there may be in the US. Not talking about labs studying latro species or the kid with a mactan in a jar...but serious collectors/keepers. My guess was 20 ...but Neshan thinks a lot more. What do ya think?