Steatoda ... ? - Steatoda borealis

Moved - juvenile male

Moved from ID Request. I think this is our best guess based on range.

… Lynette Elliott, 21 October, 2012 - 8:48am

Maybe something like

Steatoda borealis??? still subadult, but adult palps are huge and pattern is close.
Huge v. tiny

… John R. Maxwell, 20 October, 2012 - 11:50pm

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I found this one in my shed about a week ago and figure it was a Steatoda borealis: http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/527459_3685508306183_1923837728_n.jpg

I considered it but it but the palps and color leave me wondering. I took the photo a couple years ago which was before I got interested in putting specific IDs on them.

… Laura P., 21 October, 2012 - 12:04am

S. borealis?

S. borealis seems like a pretty strong possibility to me too, but I don't know what other species you have in the area. Maybe he just molted, which would explain the pale coloration?

… Kyron Basu, 21 October, 2012 - 12:11am

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I just did a search to see which Steatodas were reported for NJ. There were 49 results, excluding this ID request ALL of them were from Mr. Maxwell. LOL.

… Laura P., 21 October, 2012 - 12:42am

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Lol, the Steatodas of NJ must like you, John! :D

S. hespera might be another possibility. They have pretty big palps too, and part of the range is listed in Levi & Randolph 1975 as being from CO to MT... so maybe it gets into NJ too?

… Kyron Basu, 21 October, 2012 - 1:34am

I think

S. hespera is a western species. I've had several in NJ that were at least partly light colored and I don't think they were teneral (not 100% sure). I wish my examples didn't all look like S. triangulosa!

But S. triangulosa also has tiny palps when subadult.

… John R. Maxwell, 21 October, 2012 - 9:02am

Oops!

I wasn't thinking very clearly last night. I got MT and MA mixed up!

… Kyron Basu, 21 October, 2012 - 12:40pm

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That's OK, I once thought AK (Alaska) was the abbreviation for Arkansas (AR) and told someone I wasn't sure if a species occurred that far south. I realized what I'd done when they said they'd never been accused of being too far south before.

… Laura P., 21 October, 2012 - 2:34pm