Is this Gnaphosid Urozelotes rusticus? - Drassyllus aprilinus

Moved tentatively

Moved from collected specimens - possible ID coming.

I think this is correct.

… John Rosenfeld, 2 February, 2015 - 11:52am

That does look ...

much better.

… Laura P., 3 February, 2015 - 7:41am

Do you have any suggestions

to help Ricki reduce glare when shooting through a scope. You seem to be able to eliminate most of the glare in your photos, I'm assuming it's your lighting setup?

… John Rosenfeld, 4 February, 2015 - 8:51pm

I haven't done enough of them ...

to have much of a technique with it. For palps I've been taking them out of the alcohol and using a small piece of paper towel to soak up the excess liquid near to the palp without touching it. Then I adjust the lights (I have two LEDs from IKEA, the LEDs built into the scope are usually too harsh) ... it might help to move the lights further away from the scope when taking the picture, if it looks a little dark but the glare has improved I just adjust the contrast in a photo editing program to lighten it back up. I put a glass slide over the epigynums. I don't have a proper camera, I just hold an iphone up to the eyepiece.

… Laura P., 4 February, 2015 - 9:33pm

Thanks!

Thank you for letting me know. I'll try taking the pics that way!

… Ricki H, 5 February, 2015 - 4:22am

Moved

Moved from Spiders.

… Lynette Elliott, 2 February, 2015 - 8:05am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.
I think we need more time to think about this one.

… Laura P., 31 January, 2015 - 8:40am

Similar

There are several palp diagrams here- http://www.araneae.unibe.ch/data/1090/Urozelotes_rusticus

While very close I'm not sure if your palp matches the diagrams. Not ruling it out, lets see what others think.

… John Rosenfeld, 30 January, 2015 - 7:38pm

Thank you for the info and fo

Thank you for the info and for your opinion! I'm trying to get a handle on the Gnaphosids since I have many to key out for my research.

… Ricki H, 30 January, 2015 - 8:56pm

While I haven't found a viable alternative

I think the shape of the cymbium on your spider's palp probably rules out Urozelotes rusticus. The recurved portion on the distal end is pretty distinctive. There are a number of other differences that give me pause.

… John Rosenfeld, 31 January, 2015 - 10:08am

There are things that look good ...

and things that don't. Maybe the angle of the photo or the condition it was in when it was preserved is throwing us off. I keep thinking it's similar to Camillina too but can't convince myself that that's a good fit either.

… Laura P., 31 January, 2015 - 10:12am

Going through Platnick and Dondale, 1992

And noticed that the diagram for Drassyllus aprilinus looked surprisingly similar to this guy. Habitus of this spider doesn't seem right though but I suppose that could be loss of pigment due to storage? I'm skeptical but since I've never dealt with preserved spiders I don't know how much their pigment can change.

… John Rosenfeld, 2 February, 2015 - 9:19am

Images

I added additional images for this spider as well.

… Ricki H, 2 February, 2015 - 11:04am