Very Large long Legged Spider - Araneus saevus

Moved

Moved from Araneus.

… Lynette Elliott, 22 November, 2009 - 10:50am

Nice work,

I like your determination. Araneus saevus would have been my guess, now let's see what the palps tell us. (I'm waiting for Kevin & John to figure that out.)

… Lynette Elliott, 18 November, 2009 - 4:00pm

Can't tell

I wish I could help with this one, but I honestly can't make out enough detail to say whether this is A. saevus or not. Maybe Rod could recognize it?

… John Sloan, 19 November, 2009 - 2:43am

In this image...

are those 'black curling horns' the terminal apophysis? A. saevus is the only Araneus that has such strongly curved ones. I know this has already been ID'd as saevus, I was researching the species just now...and wound up here. :)

… Mandy Howe, 8 February, 2010 - 1:56am

I think so

> are those 'black curling horns' the terminal apophysis?

If we're both looking at the same structure, I think so. They seem to correspond with the terminal apophysis in fig. 479 (mesal view), page 225 in Dondale (and also, fig 480).

The palp on the left side of the photo above is also shown from the mesal view.

… John Sloan, 8 February, 2010 - 2:32am

Okay, thanks!

I think I'm getting better with the palps (not as good as you and Kevin, though). In Andrew's submission from yesterday, I think I was seeing the same terminal apophysis curling out from behind the palps, making them visible in the dorsal view. I saved the photos to my computer and then rotated them to see better. I wonder if you could take a look at his photo(s) and see if that is also the same appendage? I think his is also A. saevus.

… Mandy Howe, 8 February, 2010 - 11:48am

Maybe

I think there's a good chance it might be the terminal apophysis, but I can't see enough of it to say it's definitely A. saevus. I wish I had a male A. saevus in my collection to compare it with.

… John Sloan, 8 February, 2010 - 12:21pm

Thank you for taking a look...

Something I was just thinking about: Sorry if I occasionally put any pressure on you by always mentioning your name (and Kevin's) in comments. Sometimes when I stop and think about it...I do that a lot: ..."I bet Kevin and John Sloan will know...", etc. You two are like my jedi masters of the spider palp. I hate to always be "teacher, teacher, what's this?" on you. Hopefully you are a tad bit flattered rather than annoyed. :)

… Mandy Howe, 8 February, 2010 - 6:28pm

From Rod Crawford:

I'd say this was probably A. saevus, but there are other
possibilities. Viewing the palps from above doesn't show most of the
key characters. In Washington, saevus is a forest species, and
Creighton seems to be in a prairie area to judge from Google Earth.

Larger Araneus species occurring in that part of Canada include
saevus, nordmanni, marmoreus, trifolium, corticarius, iviei and
groenlandicola (names as per the 1971 revision).

… Lynette Elliott, 22 November, 2009 - 10:16am

Prarie we are not!

We are in the Boreal Forest. :-)

… Harvey Schmidt, 22 November, 2009 - 10:31am