Species Dolomedes vittatus

Classification · Identification

Is this a fishing spider - Dolomedes vittatus - female

Fishing Spider - Dolomedes vittatus - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Arachnida (Arachnids)

Order Araneae (Spiders)

Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)

No Taxon (Entelegynes)

Family Pisauridae (Nursery Web Spiders)

Genus Dolomedes (Fishing Spiders)

No Taxon (fimbriatus group)

Species vittatus (Dolomedes vittatus)

Identification

Distinguishing Dolomedes vittatus from Dolomedes scriptus males can be rather tricky at times, so here's a couple physical characteristics that I use to tell the two apart:

1.) Generally, the abdominal markings of adult male D. scriptus have a more "sculptured" appearance, whereas D. vittatus have less-pronounced markings.

2.) The two dark-colored spots in the middle of the cephalothorax are almost always more robust in D. vittatus than the more narrow ones found on D. scriptus.

Here are some images from the Guide that might help clarify some of this:

Dolomedes vittatus

Dolomedes scriptus

Hope that helped a little...Brett Tyler, 31 December, 2008

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 1:20pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, john and jane balaban, Jeff Hollenbeck, Chuck Entz
Last updated 14 June, 2009 - 10:12am

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