Golden backed spider? - Castianeira descripta

Moved

Moved from Spiders.

… Jeff Hollenbeck, 1 October, 2006 - 2:11pm

Hey jeff, thanks for the move

Hey jeff, thanks for the move. If you could help me. How did you know this is the red backed? Have you seen them with yellow spots before?

… gehan gehale, 2 October, 2006 - 2:41am

Some sort of ant mimic?

I shot something that looked much like yours, except for color. Here 'tiz...

… Ron Hemberger, 7 August, 2006 - 10:00pm

Ya know, I mentioned I though

Ya know, I mentioned I thought mine looked like an ant mimic in my post. I still think it does. The wolf spider suggestion was sent to me by another guy....

… gehan gehale, 8 August, 2006 - 8:49am

I backed into insect photography after doing birds briefly

Birds were just too tough - different seasonal plumage, adult vs. juvenile differences, sex colorations, etc. Next stop? Butterflies. Boy, did I love the simplicity! Should have stayed with that. The broader world I'm now exploring is tough even for the experts, plus families keep switching. Ahhhhhhhh!

… Ron Hemberger, 8 August, 2006 - 10:56am

I'm horrible at bird photogra

I'm horrible at bird photography(no tripod or scope attachments), but I would consider myself as somewhat of an "expert" (loosely termed) in IDing birds. I was a hardcore birdwatcher around lake michigan from when I was about 12 years old until 30. Every second I could get I was out with my binoculars searching the woods, swamps, lakefront, back yard, for any new bird I could find and add to my species list.
I always liked all nature but wasn't until about 3 years ago when I got my first digital camera and caught my first inchomen wasp that I got in to bugs. Now when I go out to the woods I take a few empty medicine bottles instead of binoculars. I've fallen 100% to insects. I'm on a mission to see all of them (impossible I know but hey, that's what fuels passion / addiction).

So hey, if you have any unidentified bird images, send me a link via email and I can most likely give you an ID. :)

… gehan gehale, 8 August, 2006 - 1:46pm

Interesting stuff

Thanks for the avian ID offer. I may take you up on it.

… Ron Hemberger, 8 August, 2006 - 7:31pm

We have a few very similar sp

We have a few very similar spiders like this here on bugguide, unfortunetlly none of them are identified. The best guess so far is a type of wolf spider.

… gehan gehale, 7 August, 2006 - 9:25pm

Thanks

I'll keep an eye open for more and variants. Mine was very placid and did not exibit any twitching as a previous poster noted.

… tdes22, 7 August, 2006 - 10:07pm

I was looking..

Through the guide and I see these almost resemble a ground spider too.

… gehan gehale, 10 August, 2006 - 1:50am

so could the yellow rump be...

seasonal, regional or some condition of the beast like mating? I'm more of a bird man than a spider man if you'll pardon the pun.
Bob

… tdes22, 10 August, 2006 - 8:34am

Strangly enough so am I, a b

Strangly enough so am I, a bird man that is. But from what i've learned so far I think the coloring for adults are somewhat standered, except for minor regional variations. Young have slightly different colors but grow there colors within a few molts (I imagine).

I don't think any insets have biyearly molts like birds do for migration and breeding season.

The yellow and red could be reigonal differences, or different species. I've seen insects on here which have wide color/pattern variations within a single species, and i've also seen many which a slight pattern change seperates two species apart.

… gehan gehale, 10 August, 2006 - 8:41am