Orb Weaver - Araneus - BugGuide.Net

Moved

Moved from Araneus nordmanni. Sorry, I was thumbing through nordmanni and I saw my image from T.Falls and realized it's probably not right. I've never found nordmanni in the valley... only gemmoides. I'm going to look back into my files and see if I have anything else on this spider that helps. Also, look at my image from the mountains... no white mark on the sternum. That mark is present on gemmoides. Compare with

… Lynette Elliott, 30 March, 2011 - 11:13am

Moved

Moved from Araneus.

… john and jane balaban, 8 February, 2011 - 5:15pm

Moved

Moved from white gemmoides-like markings anterior abdomen in front of "ears".

… john and jane balaban, 6 February, 2011 - 1:58pm

Moved

Moved from Araneus.

… john and jane balaban, 6 October, 2009 - 6:30pm

leaning back toward cat-faced

Two reasons really 1)known population in the area 2)brown tips on the end of the legs, which nordmanni doesn't have.

… Lynette Elliott, 7 October, 2009 - 10:00am

Nordmanni vs cat-faced

Well, I was basing my ID on either gemma or gemmoides, which is what Rod told me. I think I'll have to check with him again. Maybe he didn't consider nordmanni.

… Lynette Elliott, 31 August, 2008 - 5:21pm

Moved

Moved from Angulate and Roundshouldered Orbweavers.

… Lynette Elliott, 31 August, 2008 - 1:45pm

Cat-faced Spider

after a little more experience with the area, I think this is probably a cat-faced spider.

… Lynette Elliott, 29 August, 2008 - 8:34am

We're still confused

by the nordmanni on Nearctic Spiders. This really looks like Tom Murray's image of nordmanni to us. Hope somebody will stop by and comment on a couple of these images.

… john and jane balaban, 31 August, 2008 - 4:45pm

nordmanni

the only reason I lean toward cat-faced on the ones above is because I thought nordmanni had to have the large white "splotch" on the front of the abdomen as in Tom's image

.
Though most images under nordmanni in the guide right now have the larger white mark, I can't find a reference that gives that as a reliable field mark.

… Lynette Elliott, 31 August, 2008 - 5:33pm

Possibility

There are many species of spiders that are highly eolian; as such, extending their range. I am not versed on the ranges of most spiders but perhaps this spider rode the wind from Canada?

… Tom Adams, 10 August, 2005 - 3:07pm

Araneus

I will just add here that color as a separation character in Araneus species is absolutely unreliable. No species visual determinations in many of the orb weavers should be made based on color. Even the patterns can be sneaky. The only way to verify this kind of range question is examination of the spider nether regions.

… Herschel Raney, 10 August, 2005 - 1:48pm

That figures...

that's why these drive me so nuts.

… Lynette Elliott, 10 August, 2005 - 1:56pm

discussion

What about the discussion you had on

… john and jane balaban, 10 August, 2005 - 10:40am

Thanks

they do look quite similar. I'm pretty sure it's not andrewsi here either.

… Lynette Elliott, 10 August, 2005 - 2:00pm