Another Cybaeus from, yes you guessed it, the woodpile. I found this guy yesterday, presumably recently after a molt as he was quite pale. I set him up in a container hoping his coloration would set in. He was getting restless today though, so I figured I'd photograph him quickly and send him back outside regardless. He did darken quite a lot, but I wonder if he might still have some redness to gain.

I've got my fingers crossed that he'll turn out to be whatever species the female I found here is:


As an aside, how are the included palp shots in terms of useful detail and desired angles? I've been working on trying to improve them while still causing no damage and a minimum of discomfort to the spider. My new technique is quite simple, quick, and risk free as far as I can tell. I began by placing this fellow on a the clear plastic from a CD cover, then quickly covering him with a towel, and flipping him over on his back while lightly pressing down on the plastic. He was immobilized by the towel, but not hurt since it's so soft. His palps still weren't at good angles, so I slid a thin blade of dead grass between the towel and plastic and carefully nudged the palp I wanted to photograph into a more or less acceptable position. Then I started shooting at moderate angles to the plastic surface. It's pretty thin so the distortion isn't that bad, but better materials would of course yield better results. The whole process took about a minute for both shots.