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BugGuide Gathering
Smoky Mountains
University of Tennessee Biological Field Station
August 8-10, 2008
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Photos from the last gathering (Minnesota 2007)

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Species Plesiometa argyra

Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynes)
Family Tetragnathidae (Longjawed Orb Weavers)
Genus Plesiometa
Species argyra (Plesiometa argyra)
Identification
The thing that catches our eye about Plesiometa is that the three lines on the back run parallel only about halfway across the back when the outer two suddenly bend inward before flowing parallel once again to the end of the abdomen. Venusta is variable, but seems to have a single line that branches out into three about a quarter of the way which then flow parallel to the back. There's probably something much more importantly different, but we haven't noticed it yet. See

Continuing this discussion, the dorsal view of the abdomen has a white stripe that jogs inward about halfway to the back following the black line mentioned above. Below it on the side is a broad downward curving white band ending sometimes in a yellow tip, and below that a smaller curving yellow band. These are separated by broad black bands which get wider as they get farther back, so that the back of the animal is essentially all black with a few yellow spots. The underside has two parallel yellow lines ending in spots. We have not yet seen the frills on the back legs that are often so apparent in Leucauge, which see for comparable information here. See these images of Plesiometa:
Internet References
Parasitic Wasp - an article about webs and building behavior of this species when parasitized by a wasp