We (I) am now certain about the female you found, but until I can take a second look (the habitus images bother me, now), let's flag this as "Mimetus cf. puritanus", at least.

-Kevin

I have had several other adult males in the past that I haven't posted because I'm way behind. I did post another slightly bigger close-up of one I had posted. Does the palp or front leg spine pattern appear different? The abdomen seems to match the female Mimetus notius.

The differences in the palp are not so easy to see (IMO). I'll try to take a closer look this weekend. There's a slight size difference, I think, but I'll have to do some more reading. I agree about the appearance of the abdomen.

-Kevin

did you figure out this one? Maybe still a tough call?

Yes, M. puritanus, IMO.

On the left is M. notius; on the right your specimen, M. puritanus, (mirrored):

I'm happy moving back up if you think it is better. Just a note about the egg sac I found, in my mind it is probably a better match for some of the other Mimetus species than it is for M. notius.

Hi Lynette,

I'll buy this idea, but what reference then should I be checking. (Did you mean "Mimetus species" or "Mimetidae genera"?)

A view of the palp for this specimen, Mimetus puritanus, can be found here: retrolateral view of left pedipalp

-Kevin

I'm reserving opinion on this specimen for a while longer. Looking at John's other Mimetus (female), my initial inspection indicates M. notius...

-K

Okay, checking Kaston, Paquin & Dupérré, this appears to be M. puritanus, but the female you collected, Max, is M. notius.

-K

Thanks. I guess I have no proof that they were together. Odd to find an egg sac, a male, and a female all within a few feet of each other (although each a week or so apart) and I guess I assumed they were related. Is hybridization possible?

I'm not thrilled about this, either. What were the details, once more as to where you found these? The only thing that I could think would be that perhaps the female is still subadult? What is the connection between the egg sac you found in this female (if you know of any)?

Neither species is especially well represented in the Nearctic database. M. notius does show some records of mature specimens in the fall. Unfortunately I've not yet seen any information on life cycle, etc.

-Kevin

On 9/28 I find a bright orange egg sac under the roof of my front porch. That area is full of Pholcus, Theridion, Parasteatoda. Steatoda, Uloborus, etc. A great big feast. I haven't posted the egg sac images, but this came out http://bugguide.net/node/view/352698
So on 10/14 when I find the male in the same area, 2 feet away at most, I assumed he was related. Of course 2 weeks is a long time for a hunting spider to travel around. Then 4 days later I find a female about 3 feet from where I found the male. All circumstantial evidence.

The information about the parasite is interesting. For the female, I have 20 October as the date. I'll review my reference material once more and make some notes when I get a chance (perhaps this weekend).

-Kevin

sorry, math mistake, I was in a hurry. Male and female were 6 days apart.

The one I have now only got a shot this good of the female, and that doesn't show much. Kevin Pfeiffer has both spiders so we'll see what he can do. That is why almost all of the images are in Frass. That and there are people calling for less "studio" photography and more "one succinct image per bug". I thought that this was the best single image of him, I'll weed hers down soon.

I think that really pertains to easily identified bugs. For bugs that need to be identified we will need shots of the identifying features. In this case, palp, chelicerae, dorsal pattern and legs.