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Photo#478469
Adult Male and Female - Drassodes neglectus - male - female

Adult Male and Female - Drassodes neglectus - Male Female
Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada
December 10, 2010
I caught both of these as immatures last July and August. The female molted twice and the male once, both finally maturing just last week. This picture was taken about ten minutes after I put them together this afternoon, looking down on the pair from directly overhead. The female is in the process of building a retreat for herself in the corner (note her extended spinnerets) and the male is hovering close by, occasionally touching her but not trying to move in. He is cautious and she is tolerant. She lets him be, but every so often puts a swath of silk over him as she goes about her business. He shrugs it off easily and resumes his hovering. It's hard to see in this picture, but he's crazy about her. :)

This is a beautiful species which I rarely get to see in the wild. In captivity they remain in their retreats during the day but come out at night to wander around.

More pictures of the male here:

Images of this individual: tag all
Adult Male and Female - Drassodes neglectus - male - female Adult Male and Female - Drassodes neglectus - male - female Adult Male and Female - Drassodes neglectus - male - female Adult Male and Female - Drassodes neglectus - male - female Adult Male and Female - Drassodes neglectus - male - female

Moved
Moved from Drassodes.

Will be interesting to find o
Will be interesting to find out what they are someday. Platnick & Dondale write that determining species is not so easy, but with both a male and a female your chances should be better.

Yes, beautiful species -- if I were living in the States still, I'd be tempted to ask you to send me some offspring.

 
..
Yes, I was hoping they'd mate because I didn't want to have to try identifying the female by herself! I had a feeling they might be the same species, and fortunately the mating confirmed it.

I might keep the female alive for a while, but there's no reason not to preserve the male right away and get an ID. I'll probably do that this weekend.

 
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They (particularly the female) have such a distinctive appearance and dorsal pattern, that it seems like one would recognize the species again solely on the basis of appearance.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess (guess) D. mirus -- BOLD has some images that look somewhat similar in coloring and pattern, and it's the only species included in Paquin & Dupérré.

 
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The species turned out to be D. neglectus.

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