Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Bassaniana - Bark Crab Spiders

Crab Spider - Bassaniana versicolor Small black spider - Bassaniana Crab spider - Bassaniana versicolor Bassaniana sp.? - Bassaniana Bassaniana versicolor? - Bassaniana - male Misfits faced orb weaver - Bassaniana Bassaniana Bassaniana sp ? - Bassaniana
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynae)
Family Thomisidae (Crab Spiders)
Genus Bassaniana (Bark Crab Spiders)
Numbers
3 Species in the US & Canada.
Identification
* Ozyptila and Xysticus are both distinguished from either Coriarachne or Bassaniana by the lateral profile of the carapace: as Lynette mentioned, in both Coriarachne and Bassaniana the carapace is roughly flat all the way from front to back. The side profile of the carapace for Ozyptila and Xysticus, on the other hand, will be higher near the front and will drop down near the back at around coxa three. Coriarachne and Bassaniana maintain roughly the same level height from front to back.

So, the order of things to check when separating Xysticus, Ozyptila, Coriarachne and Bassaniana is:

1) Check carapace flatness first, to separate Coriarachne and Bassaniana from Ozyptila or Xysticus

2) Then, check the ventral macrosetae on tibia I and femur I length/width ratio to separate Xysticus from Ozyptila.

Ozyptila: - no more than 2 pairs of ventral macrosetae on tibia I .... femur I length-to-width ratio is about 3:1

Xysticus: - 3 to 4 pairs of ventral macrosetae on tibia I .... femur I length-to-width ratio is about 4:1

Anyway, that's how I've been separating these genera, using the information from Spiders of North America, Ubick et al. (2005) page 247. ~ John Sloan 2 Aug. 2009
Range
B. floridana - Southeastern United States extending northward into New England and southern Ohio. (1)

B. versicolor - Eastern United States and southern Ontario westward to the Rocky Mountains, in the Southwest as far as western Arizona. (1)

B. utahensis - Trans-Canadian and northern United States, along Gulf coast states from Florida into Mexico, also from central Alaska south along mountain ranges into Mexico. (1)

(There is crossbreeding between utahensis & versicolor where their range overlaps)
See Also

Coriarachne brunneipes in the Northwest.




Xysticus                       Ozyptila
Internet References
(1) American Arachnology - A Taxonomic Revision of the Crab Spider Genus Coriarachne for North America North of Mexico.