Genus Varacosa

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · See Also · Works Cited

Varacosa - dorsal - Varacosa shenandoa - male

spider from lowland forest pitfall trap - Varacosa avara

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)

Class Arachnida (Arachnids)

Order Araneae (Spiders)

Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)

No Taxon (Entelegynae)

Family Lycosidae (Wolf Spiders)

Genus Varacosa

Explanation of Names

Authors of name: Ralph Chamberlin & Wilton Ivie. First year published: 1942.

Numbers

5 species in BugGuide's range (North America north of Mexico).(1)

Identification

Careful, most of these look a lot like Trochosa (Varacosa is technically a sub genus of Trochosa). Check out how similar the carapace patterns are:

Varacosa vs. Trochosa

Range

apothetica: southeastern USA, from Florida and Georgia west to Mississippi.(2)

avara: eastern Nebraska and eastern Kansas to southern Quebec and Maine, south to Texas and northern Florida.(3)

gosiuta: western Texas across New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California to northern Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.(4)

parthenus: southeastern United States (one male from western Texas).(4)

shenandoa: northern Illinois to southern Quebec, south to Texas and northern Florida.(3)

See Also

Trochosa

Works Cited

1.	The World Spider Catalog by Norman I. Platnick

2.	A redescription of Varacosa apothetica (Wallace) (Araneae, Lycosidae) Jamin M. Dreyer. 2008. Journal of Arachnology 36:487–490.

3.	The Wolf Spiders, Nurseryweb Spiders, and Lynx Spiders of Canada and Alaska Dondale, Charles D. and James H. Redner. 1990. Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Ottawa.

4.	Nearctic species of the wolf spider genus Trochosa (Araneae: Lycosidae) Allen Brady. 1980. Psyche, Cambridge 86:167-212.

Contributed by Mandy Howe on 1 April, 2013 - 10:16pm
Additional contributions by Laura P.
Last updated 14 May, 2015 - 8:59am

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