Pardosa prosaica or Pardosa podhorskii or Pardosa tesquorum? - Alopecosa pictilis

Moved

Moved from Wolf Spiders. I was looking at this one and not really getting a Pardosa vibe since I couldn't see the rear spines sticking out perpendicular to the leg like they usually seem to do in that genus; and to me the spider looked a little bit too "burly" (my eyes might just be tricked by the flashy colors though =). So I did some hunting and I think I found it: Alopecosa pictilis, which is a new species for BG! Gorgeous spider too! Was it mature here in this picture?

It's hard to really match her to the more recent physical descriptions of Alopecosa pictilis (e.g. in (1)), maybe because the spiders used were in alcohol(?), so I went back to Emerton's early descriptions and they fit much better, especially since there are habitus diagrams to work with. See in Emerton's 1919 description figure 11 & 12. And his original 1885 diagram here: figure 5 (that one looks more like what might be the older instar maybe?). And BOLD also has some matching specimens here, though only the two in the top left corner seem to match Derek's the best (Emerton does say there is variation in the species).

I researched the other species of Alopecosa and felt confident enough to just create a new page and move her. Also, in Emerton's descriptions, he called the species "distinct" and "bright-colored," which seems pretty fitting.

The epigyne diagrams of Alopecosa pictilis appear to be a lot different than those of any of the Pardosa species listed; did Joey see this exact specimen under a microscope? I hope I'm not way off base with where I just moved this.

In addition to John's examples of verified P. tesquorum, here's also his verified Pardosa groenlandica (=P. prosaica):

I couldn't find a pic of a verified P. podhorskii, but the various descriptions and one habitus diagram in Dondale & Redner 1990 makes it look like most of the other Pardosa (including the two species mentioned here).

… Mandy Howe, 21 February, 2014 - 11:50pm

Wow,

so nice to see this one placed! This was definitely one of the ones that jumped out at me when I went through Lycosidae that I was going to ask you about but didn't want to ask about too many at once. I even came across those images on BOLD and sketched the Alopecosa pictilis carapace in my note book when I was trying to figure out what the Arctosa raptor was, I knew it looked familiar and that I'd want to look it up again at some point.

… Laura P., 25 February, 2014 - 9:32am

Ya, this is a pretty awesome one! Well worth the effort to track it down. BOLD comes to the rescue sometimes, the same specimens you saw there made me more confident of the ID. (I tip-toe there usually, because I've seen some weird stuff; just the other day, an immature male Neriene or something in with Zygiella atrica, and a Theridion with the Latrodectus, etc.) I hope I wasn't too premature in moving this one, should have waited to see what Derek thought and whether the spider was eventually checked under microscope and stuff. Fingers crossed! A. hirtipes might look similar, but I can't find convincing diagrams for that species.

… Mandy Howe, 25 February, 2014 - 11:40am

P. podhorskii (varians), Gertsch 1933

Carapace lighter than in the male, the eye region nearly black, the median longitudinal
band well defined, originating just behind the last eye row and constricted
to the posterior margins. Lateral bands continuous with the clypeus, bright yellow,
about double as wide as the brown marginal bands. The intervals between the light
bands form two dark areas that are continuous in front with the dark eye region.
Sternum dark. Labium, endites, and basal leg joints light brown, with a few lighter
areas. Legs distally lighter, the femora mottled with brown, the basal joints with indistinct
dorsal lineation. Basal maculation of the dorsum of the abdomen continuous
with the median light stripe on the carapace, about two-fifths the length of the abdomen,
the area behind with alternate dark and light areas that under low power
appear as indistinct chevrons. Venter of the abdomen pale brown.

… Lynette Elliott, 23 September, 2011 - 4:59pm

P. tesquorum

The Tesquorum group has cephalothorax (carapace) with five longitudinal bands except in dark spiders. The abdomen may have five pairs of light spots posterior to the diamond mark. This group includes P. tesquorum & P. mulaiki. ~ Vogel 2004

(I'm just collecting notes for now.)

… Lynette Elliott, 23 September, 2011 - 4:45pm

Here are two adult female P. tesquorum from Whitecourt, Alberta, identified by their epigynes:

And the male, ID'd by its palp:

… John Sloan, 24 September, 2011 - 11:21am

P. tesquorum

doesn't look like a good match, does it?

… Lynette Elliott, 24 September, 2011 - 11:38am

That's what I was thinking. Unfortunately, I haven't run across the other two species, so I wouldn't recognize either one. Maybe J Slowik could take a look at the picture and give us an ID?

Nice spider, BTW. Beautiful markings, whatever it is!

… John Sloan, 24 September, 2011 - 11:26pm

agreed

no, it doesn't

… Derek Sikes, 24 September, 2011 - 11:43am

Moved

Moved from ID Request. Beautiful spider, I hope we can ID it.

… Lynette Elliott, 23 September, 2011 - 9:37am