Nearctic Spider Database: pic requests

[dps1]

Folks,

I have been developing The Nearctic Spider Database and there are species pages for each of the ~3,500 species in Canada, US, Greenland, northern reaches of Mexico, and Bermuda. I also have a smattering of exclusively Palearctic species in the database (Europe). There are (sadly) many missing images for each of these so I am soliciting shots. Feel free to send an email to me (dps1(at)ualberta.ca) with image attachments and I'll consider them for inclusion on a species page. What would help me out is if you can also include the species name in the body of your email message. Here's an example species page: http://canadianarachnology.dyndns.org/data/spiders/18965. Notice how credit is included for each image and I have Google-like "Link It" gadgets to encourage those who might be inclined to lift an image to do so by snipping the code for the gadget.

Cheers,

Dave

 

[fusion121]

Slightly off topic, this is a spider I saw in Banff national park in Alberta (in the hot springs cave) any idea on the ID?

 

[dps1]

Slightly off topic, this is a spider I saw in Banff national park in Alberta (in the hot springs cave) any idea on the ID?

Can you give me an idea of size, excluding legs? It looks like an immature Dolomedes sp.

 

[fusion121]

Hi
The body length was only about 1cm. It was the habitat I found interesting; in a cave hunting on the edge of hot, acidic, mineral rich water. I've previously been told it was a Pirata sp. but I never got a species level ID.

 

[NRF]

Hi
The body length was only about 1cm. It was the habitat I found interesting; in a cave hunting on the edge of hot, acidic, mineral rich water. I've previously been told it was a Pirata sp. but I never got a species level ID.

Wolfie, Pirata sp.

 

[NRF]

Folks,
Feel free to send an email to me (dps1(at)ualberta.ca) with image attachments and I'll consider them for inclusion on a species page. What would help me out is if you can also include the species name in the body of your email message. Here's an example species page: http://canadianarachnology.dyndns.org/data/spiders/18965. Notice how credit is included for each image and I have Google-like "Link It" gadgets to encourage those who might be inclined to lift an image to do so by snipping the code for the gadget.

Cheers,

Dave

Please do require some sort of info on how the specimens were determined. You already have some misdeterminations on your page.

 

[dps1]

Please do require some sort of info on how the specimens were determined. You already have some misdeterminations on your page.

Can you provide some examples please? Most images are publicly submitted by folks who have published or at least have worked on Nearctic spiders. The species pages are peer-reviewed so if you have published, by all means create an account and begin critiquing the productions...such reviews are of course anonymous. It does no good to anyone to merely drop your negative comments here.

As for the Pirata sp. id, can you be a bit more specific? I went sifting through Dondale & Redner's "Insects & Arachnids of Canada, Part 17: The wolf spiders..." and attempted to match the image with each written description of all the Pirata species, but came up empty. Knowing the size of the specimen now and taking a closer look at the second image, Dolomedes sp. is indeed wrong, but I'm still not convinced this is a Pirata sp. Few Pirata sp. lack the v-shaped marking on the dorsal surface of the prosoma. The descriptions of those that do lack this v-shaped mark do not, in my opinion, match the image provided. Why Pirata sp. and not Pardosa sp.?

 

[NRF]

My purpose was not to drop negative comments but to help you improve the quality of your pages. Sorry if I expressed my self in a misunderstandable way
I will comment the things I meant through your own pages, not through this forum.

The pic of Pirata sp. seems to have disappeared so I can't tell you more about why I considered it to be Pirata than that it just looked like a typical Pirata.

 

[NRF]

The pics seem to bee back. I probably called Pirata because of its general appearence: light brown colour, rows of white dots on the abdomen, the clean white lateral bands on the carapace. No idea of species. Rather similar to this.

 

[fusion121]

Yes that does look very similar, thanks.

 

[dps1]

Yes that does look very similar, thanks.

It seems similar, but the males and females of the vast majority of Pirata spp. in Canada have a very distinct v-shaped mark on the prosoma as shown in that link to a Bugguide image of what is probably P. insularis. Because of the angles shown in the images in question, it's quite difficult to make out this marking. The top image appears not to have it, which is why I would be uncomfortable calling it Pirata sp. If there's an overhead shot to supplement what was posted, then we can be more certain. But, it is true that Pirata spp. tend not to be as "hairy" as Pardosa spp., more spindly legs, paler abdomen (usually), and smaller as a whole. The spots on the abdomen aren't particularly useful.

 

[NRF]

I don't know much about Nearctic species but a little more about European ones. I'm not 100% sure the specimen is Pirata. Maybe the white dots on the abdomen as such aren't good carachters, but in combination with the light brownish colour and the white stripes on the carapace, it makes me pretty convinced. In Europe for example Pirata latitans and P. piscatorius almost lack the v-shaped tuning fork on the carapace (and P. uligonosus and P. hygrophilus have very indistinct one). These all facts (and the fact that the specimen looks like a Pirata) make me uncomfortable calling it anything else than Pirata. But I might be wrong...

 

[Emanuele]

Before ready from where the specimen was I was writing Pirata tenuitarsis/piraticus (they're almost identical) but since this is an american species I should stop to Pirata.
Cheers
Ema

 

[KUJordan]

Regardless of location (human aided invasion happens every day) and the fact that definitive Lycosid identification is a nightmare (undescribed species are a dime a dozen), I would say it almost has to be Pirata piraticus. I think that without the spider, we'll never know 100% what the species is, but with wolfs, Genus isn't too bad.

Cool spider though!

 

[Frogsarethapoop]

I can't find any grass spiders of Alberta on that canadianarachnology website.

 

[dps1]

I can't find any grass spiders of Alberta on that canadianarachnology website.

Maps & records are based on submitted, georeferenced collection records. Individuals & institutions remotely upload their data & there are approximately 100-200 records uploaded a week. The species list for Alberta for such records is http://canadianarachnology.dyndns.org/data/spiderslist/AB and I see three agelenids so far.