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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Chelicerates (Chelicerata) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynae » Orb Weavers (Araneidae) » Araneus » Araneus bispinosus
Photo#1015325
Araneus montereyensis? with Parasite - Araneus bispinosus
Copyright © 2014 Alice Abela

Araneus montereyensis? with Parasite - Araneus bispinosus
Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve, Santa Barbara County, California, USA
October 30, 2014
Size: legspan ~7mm
Found in web on Purisima manzanita. The spider has some kind of parasite. The head of the parasite appears to penetrate the abdomen of the spider, would this be some kind of ichneumonid wasp larva?
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Contributed by Alice Abela on 30 October, 2014 - 11:39pm
Last updated 12 February, 2015 - 11:03pm

Yes, that's what we were attempting to say here

but it seems the males throw a monkey wrench into that
(or we have some of the males wrong?)
… john and jane balaban, 13 February, 2015 - 8:25am login or register to post comments

 
Males
Reviewing my pics, the males don't seem to play by the same rules. It wouldn't make sense for all the girls from the site to be A. bispinosus... This male is pretty typical of most of the males I've seen at the site pattern-wise although color scheme is quite variable.
… Alice Abela, 13 February, 2015 - 12:46pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Araneus montereyensis.
… Alice Abela, 12 February, 2015 - 11:03pm login or register to post comments

Yes, AME quite far apart,
lateral humps quite distinct, bispinosus looks good
… john and jane balaban, 10 February, 2015 - 10:26am login or register to post comments

 
Color
I'm wondering if in terms of a pattern difference between A. bispinosus and A. montereyensis the following holds true. I'm noticing on the A. bispinosus that there is a fairly sharply defined line (on those that have a pattern) between the two humps on the abdomen that follows the crest of the abdomen (hopefully this makes sense). On A. montereyensis the color extends down towards the the join between the thorax and abdomen.

See this individual and:
vs

This doesn't seem to be 100% reliable looking at images currently in the guide.
… Alice Abela, 12 February, 2015 - 11:11pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request. Yes, that ID looks good and I also agree with your ID of the wasp larva.
… Lynette Elliott, 31 October, 2014 - 7:28am login or register to post comments

 
Maybe...
Thinking she may be another A. bispinosus. She's not mature, but the anterior medial eyes are pretty far apart and all the females maturing now from the same area are A. bispinosus.
… Alice Abela, 21 January, 2015 - 9:51am login or register to post comments

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