Small spider - Bathyphantes

Moved

Moved from Spiders.

Lynette, it looks much like your B. brevipes, except that it's much smaller (3 mm vs. 8 mm) and is nevertheless an adult male.

… R. Berg, 9 January, 2010 - 3:42pm

Yes

and if my measurement says 'around', that's because I'm guessing from memory... and I usually estimate on the high side.

… Lynette Elliott, 9 January, 2010 - 3:53pm

Linyphiidae family

I was thinking erigoninae at first, but on second thought the legs don't look dwarf-ish to me. So it could be one of the sheetweb spiders, too. Linyphiidae is one of the largest families. It's taxonomically difficult and many of its genera and species are undescribed. With that having been said, I was thinking something similar to Grammonota for your spider, but that's not a solid ID by any means (not yet, at least). The majority of species in that genus are widespread, but as you'll see on the data map, we don't have many of them in the guide yet. There are nearly 50 species of Grammonota...and with a little more page turning and article reading I/we should be able to narrow down some contestants (I think).

But he really does look like a lot of the sheetweb spiders, too... His abdominal patterning is very close to some in the Bathyphantes genus.

… Mandy Howe, 25 December, 2009 - 5:01pm

Bathyphantes

I'm willing to agree with Bathyphantes. CA has Bathyphantes alameda, Bathyphantes alascensis, Bathyphantes brevipes, Bathyphantes diasosnemis, Bathyphantes keenii, Bathyphantes malkini & Bathyphantes orica.

… Lynette Elliott, 9 January, 2010 - 12:48pm

Should the images be moved, then?

I can't always tell when an ID is definite enough. The Bathyphantes page says also see Pimoa.

… R. Berg, 9 January, 2010 - 3:23pm

Not Pimoa

this time, but they can look similar. I think you can move it to Bathyphantes. If we are wrong, we can move it again later. At least it will be easy to find there since that's what it looks like.

… Lynette Elliott, 9 January, 2010 - 3:33pm