Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Pisaurina mira - Nursery Web Spider

Best I could do with eyes in this light-spider - Pisaurina mira Brown spider in an inside corner of my green shack - Pisaurina mira Spider  - Pisaurina mira Pisaurina mira?  - Pisaurina mira Dock Spider? - Pisaurina mira Tan spider - Pisaurina mira spider - Pisaurina mira Spider going under dock on lake - Pisaurina mira
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynae)
Family Pisauridae (Nursery Web Spiders)
Genus Pisaurina
Species mira (Nursery Web Spider)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Identification
The nearly straight anterior row of eyes clearly distinguishes this species from P. undulata and P. dubia which have strongly recurved anterior rows. (1)


According to James Carico (1) there are six variations of P. mira. Here is an attempt to attach a photo to each of his six drawings in the reference below. Images 1-5 are for females, 6 is for the male.

#1 & 2 - Typical


#3 Broken pattern (this was on a very large specimen)


#4 Spotted Pattern (also a very large specimen, almost no pattern visible)


#5 Center Line Pattern


#6 Typical Male


#7 Spiderling


#8 Nursery
Range
Eastern species occurring from New England and southern Ontario west to Minnesota and south to Texas and Florida. (1)
Habitat
Fields, shrubs, and forest understory vegetation (1)
Season
Adults spring to early autumn (1)
Remarks
The nursery web is placed in low vegetation near the boundary between a field and woods. This spider frequently holds its front legs extended in pairs. (1)
Print References
(1) psyche.entclub.org - (PDF) The Nearctic Spider Genus Pisaurina by James Carico.
Works Cited
1.Common Spiders of North America
Richard A. Bradley . 2012. University of California Press .