Bolas spider - Mastophora leucabulba

Mastophora leucabulba?

Looking at Levi's drawings for these species with the Balabans it appears that this spider matches M. corniger better than M. leucabulba. See page 343 & 359 here.

M. leucabulba is distinguished by the enlarged tubercle between the median eyes. I'm not sure what I see on these images... do you have any others that show the median eyes better?

… Lynette Elliott, 13 November, 2012 - 10:19pm

......

I am afraid that these images are the best that I had. I am reluctant to disagree with someone like Allen Dean, who has been studying spiders since my age was in the single digits. But that said, looking at the book pages you suggested, this individual and the other one that I posted on the Guide as M. leucabulba both seem to match the illustrations of cornigera more closely....

… Joshua Stuart Rose, 14 November, 2012 - 10:35pm

I hear you

I am also reluctant to argue with Allen Dean's determination. I find that local expertise trumps comparing images in a guide. Maybe you could contact him and ask if he can offer any tips on how we can separate these two species by field markings.

… Lynette Elliott, 15 November, 2012 - 7:48am

Moved

Moved from Mastophora cornigera based on comments provided by Dr. Allen Dean of Texas A&M University. Thanks Allen!

… Joshua Stuart Rose, 12 May, 2007 - 5:04pm

Any

idea on this one?

… Jeff Hollenbeck, 12 May, 2007 - 7:13pm

confirmation

Dr. Dean seconds the opinion posted there on behalf of Dr. Vincent, that the Nueces County spider is M. cornigera. I'll reassign those photos from genus to species.

Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D.
Program Specialist
World Birding Center
Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park
http://www.worldbirdingcenter.org/sites/mission/index.phtml
joshua.rose@tpwd.state.tx.us
956-584-9156 x 236

… Joshua Stuart Rose, 14 May, 2007 - 9:30am

Terrific!

Great addition to the guide! Does this mean that the images from California which look so different are not cornigera?

… john and jane balaban, 6 May, 2007 - 5:53pm

other images

I actually do not think the ones from California look very different than mine. The differences I see look more like the consequences of different lighting conditions and different views of the spider than differences in the critters themselves.

Note also the one currently listed in the genus section, but ID'd to this same species by someone from California.

BTW, I'm finally posting these photos, over four months after taking them, because central Texas naturalist Brush Freeman photographed another Mastophora in Elgin, TX. Brush suspects his to be a different species, among other things it has smaller humps, plus he got photos of the egg masses; maybe I'll post his too...

Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D.
Program Specialist
World Birding Center
Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park
http://www.worldbirdingcenter.org/sites/mission/index.phtml
joshua.rose@tpwd.state.tx.us
956-584-9156 x 236

… Joshua Stuart Rose, 6 May, 2007 - 6:02pm

Don't

forget there are 15 species in the genus.

… Jeff Hollenbeck, 6 May, 2007 - 7:12pm

Moved

Moved from Bolas Spiders.

… Joshua Stuart Rose, 6 May, 2007 - 5:29pm