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Photo#177935
Foliate weaver? Spotted orb weaver? - Pityohyphantes

Foliate weaver? Spotted orb weaver? - Pityohyphantes
Media, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, USA
April 19, 2008
This looks like a young orb weaver and I think it is either a Spotted Orb Weaver or a Foliate ?

Images of this individual: tag all
Foliate weaver? Spotted orb weaver? - Pityohyphantes Foliate weaver? Spotted orb weaver? - Pityohyphantes Foliate weaver? Spotted orb weaver? - Pityohyphantes

P. phrygianus?
Could she be P. phrygianus? A colleague, writing about this spider: http://spinnen-forum.de/forum/bb/viewtopic.php?id=2944 says: "I believe that that is the only sheetweb spider with "leopard legs". Even as the very tiniest of spiderlings (under the microscope, otherwise not) you can recognize her."

He also writes (speaking about Europe): "For me, a typical mountain spider that is really only common starting above an elevation of 450 m." However, looking for elevation information for Media, it sounds like you are below 450 meters?

 
Well this looks to be pretty confusing!
Pityohyphantes Simon 1929 (gender masculine) (Source)

Type: Linyphia phrygiana C.L.Koch 1836

Blauvelt (1936) synonymized all of the species described from North America, with the exception of limitaneus, with the palaearctic phrygianus. Ch&I (1943) showed that the common eastern species, costatus, was distinct from phrygianus, but did not clarify the status of the other species synonymized by Blauvelt. As the determination of valid synonymies from the literature is virtually impossible, all published names for North American species are listed here.

alticeps Ch&I 1943. L&L 1951, Lo&G 1955, Crawford 1988. WY, WA
brachygynus Ch&I 1942. CA
costatus (Hentz 1850). Blauvelt 1936, Ch&I 1943, Kaston 1948, Hack. 1954, L&F 1954, Dondale 1957, Drew 1967, D,P&P 1979, Coyle 1981, Beatty 1988, A&D 1992. Northeastern USA, OH, MI, WI, NC, NS, NF, PQ, ON, MB, [SK], [AB]
cristatus Ch&I 1942. L&L 1951, 1955, Lo&G 1955, W,D&R 1984. WY, MT, [SK], AB, BC
cristatus coloradensis Ch&I 1942. CO
hesperus (Ch 1920). Ch&I 1933, Gertsch 1935, Blauvelt 1936. UT
kamela Ch&I 1943. Crawford 1988. OR, WA
limitaneus (Em 1915b). Gertsch 1935, Blauvelt 1936, W,D&R 1984. ME, NS, LB, PQ, ON, MB, [SK], AB, BC
lomondensis Ch&I 1941. CA
minidoka Ch&I 1943. Crawford 1988. ID, [OR], WA
navajo Ch&I 1942. UT
pallidus Ch&I 1942. CA
phrygianus var. annulipes (Banks 1892). Blauvelt 1936, Bonnet 1958. NY. Probably a senior synonym of subarcticus Ch&I (DJB).
rubrofasciatus (Keys. 1886). SYN vancouveranus Ch&I 1942. Em 1920, Blauvelt 1936, Banks 1904, Schenkel 1950, Crawford 1988. CA, [OR], WA, BC
subarcticus Ch&I 1943. Ch&I 1947. AK, PQ, [ON], MB, [SK], [AB]. P. subarcticus is very close to the palaearctic phrygianus (C.L. Koch 1836), and may be a synonym of that species. However, there are small differences in palpal structure (Ashmole et al. 1978), and it therefore seems best to maintain it as a separate species at present.
tacoma Ch&I 1942. Crawford 1988. [OR], WA, [AK]

But it looks from location that this can only be costatus. Thoughts??

 
That hurts my head. :-) Wh
That hurts my head. :-)

While we're on the topic, how does one pronounce "Pityohyphantes"?

-K

Reminds us more of
Pityohyphantes, in the guide here

 
Ah-HA!
Interesting, a Sheetweb spider! Thanks for the ID!

 
That seems to make sense -- t
That seems to make sense -- the shape of the prosoma didn't seem right to my novice eyes for the orb weavers I've seen.

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