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Photo#505999
Spider IMG_8078 - Heteropoda venatoria

Spider IMG_8078 - Heteropoda venatoria
Naples, Collier County, Florida, USA
April 2, 2011

Images of this individual: tag all
Spider IMG_8078 - Heteropoda venatoria Spider IMG_8078 - Heteropoda venatoria

Moved
Moved from Spiders. Moved to guide page; I unchecked representative and checked immature.

Florida Spider
It's at an odd angle, and I'm having trouble with this one. Size? I want to say it's a running crab spider, but the Posterior Lateral Eyes are too large. They I thought maybe Dolomedes, but that doesn't look right either. Like I said, I'm having trouble.

 
Maybe Selenops or Dolomedes?
Selenops species have large PLE but their PME are usually more forward than the ones this spider has. I'm downloading some Selenops revisions right now to see if I can learn anything. The way the legs are rotated like that in order to be flattened is a Selenopidae characteristic.

It also looks a lot like Dolomedes except for the uncommon color pattern (and funny leg rotation). Maybe a Dolomedes species that hitchhiked from Cube or the Bahamas or something?

 
Oh, look at this...
There's one that looks to me like the same thing and it's under Heteropoda venatoria: http://bugguide.net/node/view/45889/bgimage. It is also from Florida and now I realize that the eyes do seem to match that genus (Heteropoda). Hmm.

 
Looks Right
If so, it must be an immature. I don't think the body length was more than 10 mm and it may have been a lot less. I recall it was quite small. Sorry for the bad angle and low resolution. It was high up under the eve of an out house and I only had time to take this shot.

I see one in the Guide here with legs held in a similar position. I also notice that it has paired black spots on the legs with longer hairs similar to other examples in the Guide.

Feel free to frass.

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