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Photo#628695
Spider - female

Spider - Female
In Westwood - elevation 5100ft, Lassen County, California, USA
April 2, 2012
Size: Body length 5mm
My thanks for any further ID placement!

Images of this individual: tag all
Spider - female Spider - female Spider - female Spider - female Spider - female

Moved to Sheetweb Spiders
Moved from Spiders.

Megalepthyphantes nebulosus? in CA
The only problem I have here is that Steve Lew doesn't list this on his CA Spider list. I would feel better about IDing this if I had found it there. He does list a bunch of Linyphantes that I've never seen. I think we should move to subfamily for now. Here are the Linyphantes on Steve's list: Linyphantes aeronauticus, Linyphantes aliso, Linyphantes anacortes, Linyphantes delmarus, Linyphantes distinctus, Linyphantes eureka, Linyphantes laguna, Linyphantes microps, Linyphantes nigrescens, Linyphantes obscurus, Linyphantes orcinus, Linyphantes pacificus, Linyphantes santinez, Linyphantes santinez verdugo.

What does the ventral side lo
What does the ventral side look like?

 
Ventral view added
However the critter was fatally injured in the process of trying to get a living ventral image.

 
Oops
Yes they can be delicate. Have you tried the using a plastic baggie for ventral photos? You just seal them in, turn it over & click away. Of course flash & plastic presents some problems, but it's not too hard to figure that out after a few shots.

It must be one of the sheetweb weavers?

 
Thanks for the tip Lynette!
I will try that next time, and on other critters too! : )

 
It looks a little similar to


Except yours doesn't have banded legs.

 
Good eyes, Lynette
Good eyes, Lynette -- that's it, I think (what's a little weak leg banding among friends -- the Spiders of Europe site says the leg annulations are "indistinct"). It's the only holarctic Megalepthyphantes species, isn't it?

Take a look at the reddish epigynum plate (I've got another image in my database that looks even closer):

Jim, for some reason I thought that you were sending these specimens you collect off to someone (in which case it would be easier to first kill the specimen and then photograph the venter). Are you not? That would be a pity.

 
Thanks Kevin...
... for the venter photo tip. I am still learning how to do these things, and appreciate the good advice. I will be sending this and other specimens to the DNA folks at BOLD.

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