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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Chelicerates (Chelicerata) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynae » Running Crab Spiders (Philodromidae) » Slender Crab Spiders (Tibellus)
Photo#534731
spider with one short leg - Tibellus
Copyright © 2011 Ilona L.

spider with one short leg - Tibellus
Cross Plains, Dane County, Wisconsin, USA
June 24, 2011
Size: 8mm
Could this spider be regenerating a lost leg or was the leg perhaps injured in some way so that it did not reach full length?

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spider with one short leg - Tibellus spider with one short leg - Tibellus
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Contributed by Ilona L. on 25 June, 2011 - 12:11pm

..
A spider will usually self-amputate a badly injured limb. This one was probably regenerated after the original was lost at a late stage in the spider's development. It usually takes more than one molt for a leg to regenerate to its near-normal size, so when a spider loses one during a later instar the new leg will end up like this one.

I'm assuming your spider might be an adult and won't molt again. But, if it isn't mature, and still has a molt or two left, the leg should come out being closer to normal size with each successive molt.
… John Sloan, 25 June, 2011 - 2:20pm login or register to post comments

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