Longjawed Orbweaver - Tetragnatha elongata-like

Moved

The Chelicerae sure are long, and the eye pattern fits the description. Sounds like it belongs in this species group. Thanks for the help Kevin.

… tom murray, 27 June, 2009 - 8:11pm

Are you going to start saving

Are you going to start saving another batch for me? ;-) Or did you let this fellow go on with his business?

-K

… Kevin Pfeiffer, 27 June, 2009 - 9:39pm

I let him go

But if you want, I'll save spider specimens for you again. Getting solid id's from specimens is the best way to go.

… tom murray, 27 June, 2009 - 9:57pm

Sounds good -- I don't like t

Sounds good -- I don't like to miss out on the spiders from my "Heimat". Just keep them in 70% alcohol, in the dark, and we'll figure out a way to connect up every once in a while.

BTW, a follow-up on the "sinuate" fang characteristic. I'm reading Levi's revision of the genus (1981), and he says that he initially tried to sort out the species according to various characteristics of the chelicerae, but that there was simply too much variation. But he writes that the teeth and chelicerae are useful ... in limited ways: T. elongata generally has longer chelicerae than T. versicolor."

Levi's drawing of the chelicerae for T. elongata is also a dead-on match for your close-up, IMO.

… Kevin Pfeiffer, 27 June, 2009 - 10:13pm

Great

I'll start saving the ones that are difficult ti identify from pictures.

… tom murray, 27 June, 2009 - 10:23pm

Kaston writes, with respect t

Kaston writes, with respect to Tetragnatha elongata: "Chelicerae are longer than the carapace in males and the fang is sinuate.... the lateral eyes of each side are closer together than are the medians." Does that qualify this beautiful specimen for at least "elongate-like"? (Although I'm not so sure that the fangs are "sinuate" here.)

… Kevin Pfeiffer, 27 June, 2009 - 7:42pm