Tibellus species ID

[gunslinger]

Though maybe one of you who is better at this than me could help me ID this one to species. I know the overall photo is bad, but I never got a good photo when it was alive, this one is after ethanol preservation.

It was found at the edge of grassy lakeside field in central Texas. I have a ton of others from close locales, but this one is unique from any other I have collected so far.

 

[jsloan]

First off, it's definitely not T. oblongus. Seems to resemble the epigyne of T. maritimus (if that species is found in your area). I'll try and check epigyne diagrams and ranges for other species as well, but for now here's a maritimus epigyne - see what you think:

 

[gunslinger]

That is the same conclusion I arrived at, but its not listed as occurring in Texas, not sure if it even is described from close to Texas. Doesnt seem to match any of the other species but I am not so good at comparing 60 year old pencil sketches to microscope images lol.

 

[jsloan]

I compared it with four other species, and the epigyne looks very different from each of them. That leaves two others I can check.

Who knows, you may be able to extend the known range of the species. Dondale (1990) has maritimus as far south as Utah, but that was as of 20 years ago.

 

[gunslinger]

It has 3 tibial spines, which cant be seen in the photo. If my notes serve me correctly, that rules out T. duttoni (the other species described in Texas) and T. chamberlini. Not sure on the two species of Tibellus from California, but I thought they had narrower ranges if I remember right.

 

[jsloan]

I've checked Schick's paper, The Crab Spiders of California (1965) which describes several species there, and shows epigyne diagrams for each. Those, taken with the diagrams and species described in Dondale and Redner (1990) cover all of the seven Tibellus species in NA. The only epigyne that resembels yours is T. maritimus, so I'd say it's a very good chance that's the species you have here. It is distinctive from the others.

Nice find. I couldn't find any records online for this species in Texas, but that doesn't mean it hasn't already been recorded somewhere in the state. It's worth checking on, though, just to be sure one way or the other.

 

[gunslinger]

THanks for the help. As far as checking the Texas list I have really only used google and the TAMU Texas spider checklist. I will have to contact some people see if there is an updated list, and of course go catch some more to confirm.

THanks again