Maybe it is in the genus Sergiolus? Compare with others here

The only Callilepis pluto I could find is one of Rod Crawford's here. The eye arrangement looks wrong for that one to me, but I can't see it that well.

I agree with you that Sergiolus is another possibility.

The picture and description of Callilepis pluto I was going by isn't online, unfortunately. It's in Spiders of the Eastern United States by Howell and Jenkins, page 269. It looks much like Rod's spider as far as body markings, but is the lighter rust color like this specimen.

Perhaps Rod could take a look at this one and give an opinion? I wonder if there might be regional color variations, as in east vs west?

the image in that book looks much more like the image above except for the cephalothorax coloring, but that could be lighting. The description just above (in the book) describes the entire genus as spiders with bright orange-brown cephalothorax and similar colored legs (Rod's doesn't match that coloring either). It would certainly be nice if it was one, but I'm not sure. I'll see if Rod can take a look. In the meantime we should probaby look through some of the other ground spider photos to see if there are any that we think may be in this genus.

I was thinking this one might be Callilepis sp.:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/92263/bgimage

"It is certainly not C. pluto (which I don't think occurs in MA anyway)
- the red carapace, shape of different parts etc. rules that out.
Could be a Sergiolus (aka Poecilochroa) or a Herpyllus sp. Certainly a
gnaphosid anyway."

I'm thinking we may need to do more research on this genus. Rod's image looks so different from the one in the book... I'm not sure how to proceed.

Callilepis pluto does occur in MA (there's actually tons of localities in MA listed here(1) and the range given here(2) also includes MA), and literature on this genus says it has a light orange to dark brown carapace and matching legs, except in the males where some leg segments are darker. Something I find distinguishing is the eye arrangement of Callilepis compared to Sergiolis, but I wonder if I am on the wrong track if Rod thinks these are so far off? Has anyone else noticed the eyes, or am I misinterpreting things? (Callilepis has posterior lateral eyes larger than posterior medians. Posterior medians are small, flat, and transverse (never seen that in Sergiolus before).)

I'm so confused now after researching Callilepis and feeling like I had it, then stumbling upon Rod's assessment in Lynette's comment. Now I'm totally lost! :-P

I even thought Gayle's specimen that John linked to above was a Callilepis imbecilla (after zooming in on the epigyne area and seeing what appears to be an arrangement of spermathecae that matches the diagram in (2)). I have no personal experience, though, so am wondering if I am *completely* off? Anyone spent any more time on Callilepis since these older comments?

Before I saw the comment from Rod, I was about to suggest that the following might also be Callilepis (see eyes, coloration that matches descriptions, and also their eery similarities to the diagram in SONA(3)):


Hank Guarisco ID'd some reddish colored ones here (scroll till you get to the color photos of Callilepis): http://www.emporia.edu/ksn/v55-december2007/KSNVOL55.pdf

And there's also this reddish one that looks exactly like Howell & Jenkins' that Gerry Wegner ID'd; you can tell the white scales/hairs on the abdomen have just been worn off (I was about to move it to C. pluto before I saw Rod's comment):


I dunno, maybe I'm way off... just disappointing cuz I thought I had it! lol

P.S. Placement of this comment was chosen because it is the same page with Rod's comment plus Lynette, John, and Kevin are all subscribed.

Good thing we have you back, Mandy -- we need another set of active eyes. I haven't read through all of this, yet, but wanted to post a link to an image that nicely shows the eye pattern: Callilepis nocturna (a palearctic species).

Also, I see that I collected a specimen of C. pluto while I was in North Carolina. I'll post it later, if it's not already in BG (which I doubt).

Very nice! Yep, that's the eye pattern I had in mind, nice to see it on a confirmed specimen. I think I'm seeing it on all the thumbnail images in my last comment (that eye arrangement is different from Sergiolus & Herpyllus, which has me so stuck on Gayle's and the rest being Callilepis). And, yay(!), I see you added your C. pluto! I'd like to hear from Rod more about why he thought Gayle's was so far off from Callilepis... I haven't contacted him in a looong time, so I'm afraid to have the first comment in so long be double-checking something he already said, especially if I'm way off! :-P I guess we just need to hope for more confirmed specimens. Maybe this is a question that can't be answered without them.

I've been very busy this weekend, so I haven't had time to really look at these. All I can say is that Rod bases his quesses on what he knows of spiders in the Northwest. He's said many times that his guesses outside of that range could be off. I don't think you should worry too much about it not matching his thoughts.

I think I've heard him say something similar before (that he knows the northwest best)... I guess it was throwing me off that he said "certainly not." Made me feel like I was way off, lol. I went ahead and moved the two MA specimens from Tom to species level (just the two that were already in Callilepis). I'll leave the others be for now, maybe until others can confirm or agree that they are Callilepis. I just know that Sergiolus & Herpyllus do not have the same eye arrangement as these interesting ones do... but I don't know if there are other genera that do.

> I'm thinking we may need to do more research on this genus.

To start with: Go find that spider, Bo, and send it off (to John or myself)! :-)

"I'm thinking we may need to do more research on this genus."

I couldn't agree more. I'm sure I need to at this point.