This is the Santa Rita Mountains type of Habronattus pugillis. Most of the sky islands of southeastern AZ have an isolated population of these spiders in oak woodland at middle elevations, as the dry desert lowlands are unsuitable habitat. Each population is slowly diverging from the others. See
here and
here.
Anyway, this is a new species for the guide. The habitat was a steep, rocky hillside with scattered oak/juniper.
Contributed by
Ben Coulter on 28 July, 2007 - 6:49pm
Last updated 28 July, 2007 - 8:15pm