ant-spider - Micaria - BugGuide.Net

Moved

… Laura P., 13 October, 2017 - 11:01pm

Ant-mimic spider

Hi Denise,
This spider is doing a good job at mimicing an ant! :)
This looks to be a castianeira species, which are the ant-mimic spiders. They come in a variety of colors and shapes, but are known for their striking resemblance to ants at a first glance. Some jumping spiders do the same!
Great find!
Have a good day,

… Andrew Caudillo, 13 October, 2017 - 8:13pm

Wow...could it possibly be a

Wow...could it possibly be a Castianeira cingulata - Twobanded Antmimic ... even though they seem to be down south or back East on BG ?

… nature4me, 13 October, 2017 - 8:30pm

Good question

I'm not sure if it would be cingulata. I can definitely see why you thought so, and I did too. I think it *might* be C. longipalpa, but we should wait for someone who knows their corrinidae. They are not my strong suit!
I hope you have a great day,

… Andrew Caudillo, 13 October, 2017 - 8:34pm

Hhhmm....mine has dark legs a

Hhhmm....mine has dark legs and narrow stripes whereas the pics of C. longipalpa in BG seem to have light legs & broader stripes ? Your thoughts ?

… nature4me, 14 October, 2017 - 7:24am

Moved

The editors have moved your little spider to its proper home. Turns out this one was actually a ground spider, Gnaphosidae in the genus Micaria.
They can sometimes look alike!
I hope you have a great day,

… Andrew Caudillo, 14 October, 2017 - 12:59pm

Hhhmmm...thanks for all your

Hhhmmm...thanks for all your suport...still not quite convinced...but they're the experts...not me.

… nature4me, 14 October, 2017 - 3:11pm

There are only ...

a couple Castianeira in our range that look similar to this, similar but not quite - the abdominal pattern is a little different and we can rule them out.

There are a few genera of Jumping Spider that are similar but their eye clusters are very different. (Peckhamia, Sarinda, Synageles...)

There are also some Linyphiids with waisted abdomens and similar abdominal patterns but your spider looks more like Micaria than the Linyphiids.

I wish I could tell you the exact species but this one is tricky because there are *41* species of Micaria listed for North America of which we currently only have 6 represented in the Guide. I'd have to look each one up to find out their distributions (I may do that later to fill out the info page. I'll let you know if I do(Edit: I'll also look up Mazax in Corinnidae which is another similar one)) or see the genitalia to narrow it down.

… Laura P., 14 October, 2017 - 8:59pm

Hi Laura, Many thanks for

Hi Laura,

Many thanks for ALL YOUR INFO....am really looking forward to reading your findings...Denise

… nature4me, 15 October, 2017 - 1:08pm

Hi, I've added ...

more specific range information for all of the species on the Micaria info page. Unfortunately that only narrows your options down to around half of them. :) I've also added the range info for the two North American species of Mazax which are only known from TX.

… Laura P., 18 October, 2017 - 8:44am

Hi Laura, Many thanks for ALL

Hi Laura, Many thanks for ALL your hard work and dedication...DK

… nature4me, 19 October, 2017 - 7:26am

No problem

My pleasure. Spiders can be tricky and very similar looking to each other, like the Corrinidae and the Gnaphosidae.
I hope you have a good day,

… Andrew Caudillo, 14 October, 2017 - 3:27pm

Thanks...YOU, too !

… nature4me, 14 October, 2017 - 4:04pm