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Photo#695101
Spider - Tegenaria domestica - male

Spider - Tegenaria domestica - Male
Cowichan Valley, British Columbia, Canada
August 19, 2012
Size: ~10mm body length
This is a member of our indoor population of T. domestica spiders, found on a wall. He's pretty big, rivaling most of the females I've seen.

ID is based on appearance (esp. banding on the legs), and since I figure I ought to learn how to compare palps eventually, I also took a look at the following paper:

Roth, V. D. The spider genus Tegenaria in the Western Hemisphere (Agelenidae). Am. Mus. Novit. 2323: 1-33

The paper can be downloaded from here: http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/2533
I'm not quite clear on the terminology yet, but the palps do match the diagram on page 12 pretty nicely.

There's an interesting follow-up story here too. I released this male into a room adjacent to where I found him, because I knew there was at least one female living there. He devotedly tried to get her attention from the 19th all the way to the 24th. He would approach her web from every imaginable angle, slowly, a few steps every hour or two. On the 22nd, she came out of her funnel for some reason, and he wasted no time in going straight in, sitting at the entrance as if he owned the place. He was evicted quickly upon her return, and resumed his usual shenanigans. On the 23rd he disappeared, but came back the next day. The female caught a silverfish and he spent a few hours on the 24th watching her eat. That evening I assume he got chased away because he was out of sight, the female being out of her web and up on a nearby wall, still feeding on the silverfish. When I checked up on them before going to bed, I noticed the male was slowly creeping back. He's gone again today (the 25th).

The last shot in the series from the 24th with this male on the right, the female in her funnel on the left. If it's of any use to the guide, I can post some more shots of their interactions. Here's the female:

Images of this individual: tag all
Spider - Tegenaria domestica - male Spider - Tegenaria domestica - male Spider - Tegenaria domestica - male Spider - Tegenaria domestica - male Spider - Tegenaria domestica - male Spider - Tegenaria domestica - male Spider - Tegenaria domestica - male

Requesting permission to use on commercial site
Kyron - fantastic image! I'm requesting permission to use this image, along with your copyright byline, on a small pest control site: www.proguard-pest.com/spider_control_kirkland

permission
I am putting together a guide book for some students who do a yearly camping trip in the Black Hills for spiders that are common in our area. I would like to ask your permission to use your photo.

 
permission
Feel free to use the image. Sounds like a great project!

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