Araneus miniatus

Moved

Moved from Araneus partitus.

Confirmed by examination of the pedipalp and comparision with Levi.

… Kevin Pfeiffer, 13 November, 2010 - 5:11am

Subadults

What do you think I should do with the 2 subadult males?

Unfortunately the old forum is gone, so I can't reread the facts for this ID either

… John R. Maxwell, 13 November, 2010 - 9:19am

Good question. I would either move them to miniatus, with the note that we can't be entirely certain (that is probably what I would do), or move them up to the genus level, with a note that they are "miniatus/partitus subadult males".

And you might try to collect a couple more subadults to photograph and then send off, your time and interest permitting.

And, if you see another mature female like the one above, do collect her, so we can confirm this.

… Kevin Pfeiffer, 13 November, 2010 - 4:44pm

The mature female above was determined based on the habitus image, which was a direct match to a drawing by Levi (and was also corroborated by him, as I recall).

I will take a close look again at all of these, including the most recent specimen, this coming week, when I have time -- just to be sure.

… Kevin Pfeiffer, 13 November, 2010 - 10:34am

Oh yes, now I remember

We read the descriptions before on your earlier posts and couldn't figure it out. Not surprising that we once again can't figure out what's going on. Yes, these belong with the other males you posted to partitus. Just wish there were a way to understand what Levi, 1973, is saying about how to separate the two species.

… john and jane balaban, 17 May, 2010 - 9:15pm

It was so much easier

when I thought that only one of the species lived in this habitat! But we seem to be sorting all of the ones with the white "angel wings" to miniatus (for now).

… John R. Maxwell, 18 May, 2010 - 1:28pm

BTW

If you want you can update your Ventral Images article for the two species. I made sure to get the images just in case you wanted them. The last two times I didn't shoot them because they aren't normally needed for males, but then I remembered the atricle.

… John R. Maxwell, 17 May, 2010 - 9:23pm

Interesting --

We would have suggested miniatus -- back to the books for us, we guess!

… john and jane balaban, 17 May, 2010 - 7:46pm

I may be wrong

Kevin will let us know for sure. I think the pattern matches the 2 subadult males I posted here. But the red legs do go well with the miniatus I posted recently. Comments on some images in the guide may suggest that the 2 species are either easily confused or I wonder if they may just be different "forms" of one species?

… John R. Maxwell, 17 May, 2010 - 8:06pm