The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent
vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums
here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules
document is now in effect.
A hidden spider attacks! ID?
Or, really, just kinda hangs out on the underside of my trashcan's handle in a very grabbable location.
I regret that the spider is no longer with us, but I'd love to know what it was I almost put my hands on.
@Arch @BugBoy - you're definitely resident experts!
Sorry for the phone picture, but it was really dark out so I had to use the flash to see anything.
0
Posts
edit: I think
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Photo-relevant bullet points:
No distinct markings on the abdomen. (That one has pretty apparent tramp stamping)
6 eyes in three groups of 2. (Which I feel like we could see even in that photo)
Leg bands: Not mentioned in that article, but I'm 70% you're not likely to find those on any recluses either.
Cannot discern from photo, but good data points none the less:
Not a big fans of webs.
No visible hair other fine hairs on the butt.
Leave me out of this.
Is it just a sign of summer that we have a surge of spider posts?
Barring an ID from our resident experts, I like to use http://www.spiders.us as a start. You can look up spiders by region* which can help you narrow down the family / genus at least. As they will tell you, some species distinctions can be impossible to tell without putting their genitals under a microscope, and probably aren't going to be of interest to you in such cases anyway.
*(But if you live in a port town and seem to get a lot of hitchhikers, it may not help much at all! We had south american colony spiders covering an oak tree for a season until what passes for a Florida winter wiped them out. They were pretty cool, but definitely wouldn't show up in a localized list)
This is the one that looks most similar, to me.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
that abdomen is far too stout to be the one you picked.
It you look at the picture of the gravid female, though, it looks pretty close.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Okay, so I'm going to pick on you for a bit, because this is why I got so irate in the black widow thread. There is A) no chance this is a brown recluse, even though it is a vaguely brown spider hiding away somewhere and the reports of brown recluse venom are grossly exaggerated.
Now, I'm by no means a spider expert, but if I had to guess that is some type of crab spider, family Thomisidae, but of course this is home to about 2000 species of spider, so narrowing it down could be tricky. Again, not anything close to a spider expert, but the rounded abdomen and c-shape formed by the front legs always make me think crab spider, although it could be an orb weaver, although orb weavers tend to hold their legs differently than crab spiders. It doesn't look particularly gravid, either.
Going to link-dump from the Black Widow thread here, but the important link is the first one, in regards to brown recluses
http://spiders.ucr.edu/brs.html
http://spiders.ucr.edu/necrotic.html
http://buzzhootroar.com/a-spider-did-not-bite-you/
https://arthropodecology.com/2012/02/15/spiders-do-not-bite/
https://arthropodecology.com/2013/06/13/update-spiders-still-dont-bite/
Anyway, like I said, most definitely harmless*, as are the majority of spiders in the world, up to and including the Big Two in the US (Widows and Recluses).
*When I say harmless, I mean statistically unlikely to cause death.
Hmm. The problem with the one you picked, even the gravid female, is that the connection between the abdomen and cephalothorax in Cheiracanthium mildei is very thin-waisted, almost wasplike, while the original spider image has a very stout connection between abdomen and cephalothorax, as well as much more robust legs.
No worries, Arch. All the media and the press that goes around about widows and recluses- let's face it, if it ends up on the news, they're going to try to start a scare tactic, and not everyone (including me, apparently) really knows what a recluse looks like- some people think "spider + brown = brown recluse = kill with fire because it's going to bite me and I don't want to get one of those nasty necrotic bites and have things fall off".
I was wrong, and I'll go take a look at some of those links later, see if I can at least pick up the obvious traits a recluse have so the next time something brown and spidery comes crawling along it doesn't just get smashed because spider.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
It's better to take off and nuke the site from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
Do not engage the Watermelons.
edit: added "random". if you have a widow infestation i can see how that's something you want dealth with harshly.
Ya, I constantly bewilder visitors when I'll practically dive to prevent the death of a spider that's found it's way into the house, and gently get him back outside.
Their bewilderment goes away when I point out that at my house you don't get eaten alive by mosquitos when you go outside.
I've considered bringing in some mantis ringers to clear out the areas near my apartment, but I feel like it would be a waste money.
I like to post this bit of information for people who think saving that one spider that shows up in your bathroom every few weeks is going to prevent mosquito bites:
In a classic and seminal paper by Turnbull (1973) (all Arachnologists should read that paper!) there are a series of estimates of spider densities in a range of habitats – and these are estimates for all spiders, not just a single family. The lowest estimate he provides is from work in a Polish meadow where densities of 0.64 spiders per square metre were reported. The highest density was 842 spiders per square metre in an English pasture. Turnbull averaged all previous published estimates and ended with a mean of 130.8 spiders per square meter. Turnbull does point that it is kind of a meaningless statistic, except that it helps us tackle the question of interest: Is there always a spider within three feet of you…?
So…. in most “natural” habitats, I think it is true that you are always within three feet of a spider.
We are not in danger of running out of the little nopes. They can live freely and kill bugs as much as they want....but if one is hanging from a web in the center of my bathroom when i first wake up in the morning (or at night, They are asking for squishes.
Also: Get me the fuck away from all English Pastures.
Which, I mean, that's fine. I don't like killing spiders personally, but it's not like it's an uncommon thing. It just always bums me out to see that so many people on the internet seem to be so energetic about their hatred for an entire order of animals, of which 99.999% are utterly harmless, beneficial, and super rad.
I usually take the big hunting spiders we get in the house sometimes outside so they can continue to eat things I'd rather not have to deal with.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]