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Genus Larinia

Larinia? - Larinia borealis Long-Jawed Orb Weaver ? - Larinia directa Larinia C - Larinia directa Argiope? - Larinia directa flower spider - Larinia borealis spider - Larinia borealis - female Dried Grass Orbweaver - Larinia directa - female Larinia borealis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynae)
Family Araneidae (Orb Weavers)
Genus Larinia
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Explanation of Names
Gender: Feminine
Numbers
There are 61 species worldwide but only 3 species in BugGuide's area of coverage.
Identification
Females - carapace has a dark line extending back from the posterior median eye (1)
L. borealis


L. directa long tibia I, more pointed anterior abdomen, carapace may have faint line, abdomen usually has indications of 4 longitudinal red lines (1)




Males
L. borealis


L. directa
Range
(Probably derived from Levi, 1975 (2))

Genus Larinia Simon, 1874 [3 species]

Larinia borealis Banks, 1894
AB, AZ, CA, CO, CT, IL, KS, MA, MB, MI, NH, NM, NY, OH, ON, SK, UT, VA, WA, WI
(Looks like anything in Canada, the far northern tier of states, The Great Lakes, and the Northeast is L. borealis)

Larinia directa (Hentz, 1847)
AL, AR, AZ, CA, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, NJ, OH, SC, TN, TX, VA
(Looks like anything tropical or very far south plus anything in the southeast, Arkansas to NC and south is L. directa)

Larinia famulatoria (Keyserling, 1883)
AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, UT, WY
(These are the states where we'll have trouble, overlapping L. borealis to the north and L. directa to the south)
See Also
Slender Crab Spiders (Tibellus)

       
Tibellus           vs.         Larinia

Slender Crab Spiders tend to rest with their legs straight forward while Larinia sp. rest with their front legs folded back. They also have different eye arrangements, but that is not easy to see.
Works Cited
1.How to Know the Spiders
B. J. Kaston. 1978. WCB/McGraw-Hill.
2.The American orb-weaver genera Larinia, Cercidia and Mangora north of Mexico
H.W. Levi. 1975. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 147: 100-135.