Aculepeira spider - Aculepeira packardi

Moved

… john and jane balaban, 17 June, 2009 - 1:50pm

Moved

Moved from Spiders. An entire new genus, great! John, Steve Lew lists only one species for CA, Aculepeira packardi. See www.ocf.berkeley.edu. What do you think?

… Lynette Elliott, 13 June, 2009 - 9:57am

Not sure

I found these images of A. packardi, but they seem a little different:

http://www.insectimages.org/browse/subthumb.cfm?sub=18640&start=1

… John Sloan, 13 June, 2009 - 10:25am

A. packardi

Looks like there are only two species in the US, A. packadii and A. carbonarioides. A. carbonarioides has not been collected in California, according to Dondale et al. (2003).

Apparently these are higher alititude spiders, found around the treeline or alpine meadows. One way to tell the difference between species is the dorsal pattern is more broken in A. carbonarioides, than in A. packardii - also, the latter has the lobed markings (Dondale), which our spider has.

So, I think you're right about this spider being A. packardii. It looks like we not only have a new genus for BG, but a species for it as well. :)

… John Sloan, 17 June, 2009 - 10:43am

A. aculifera

Hi John. The World Spider Catalog lists A. aculifera as being in the USA. Is this an error? I can't find any info on this species.

… Lynette Elliott, 4 September, 2009 - 7:07pm

No, I think that's probably right.

It's also listed as a US species in the Nearctic database:

http://www.canadianarachnology.org/data/spiders/14430

I used Dondale (2003) but I forgot that it mostly lists species also found in Canada, so I didn't check for others. Oddly, though, Spiders of North America (2005), also lists A. packardii and A. carbonarioides as the only two species in the US. I don't know why that is so, but I'd go with the World Spider Catalog as the most up to date and probably correct source.

I haven't got any info on A. aculifera either. I was ready to go with A. packardii, based on the info I had before, but now I'm not so sure!

… John Sloan, 4 September, 2009 - 11:29pm

Very southern?

I'm wondering if the species is so southern that while the world catalog recognizes it, the others do not. I'm getting two new spider books next week, maybe they will shed some light.

… Lynette Elliott, 5 September, 2009 - 9:46am

What books? :)

… John Sloan, 5 September, 2009 - 1:05pm

Spider Books

How to Know the Spiders & Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual.

… Lynette Elliott, 5 September, 2009 - 8:06pm

Good books

Each is full of useful information.

… John Sloan, 7 September, 2009 - 5:14pm

Aculepeira sp. (Araneidae) ?

Looks alot like one of them. The only picture I can compare yours to is a European species, but it will give you an idea:

http://www.canadianarachnology.org/data/spiders/14442

… John Sloan, 1 June, 2009 - 5:47pm