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Photo#720733
mysterious spider  - Araneus montereyensis - female

mysterious spider - Araneus montereyensis - Female
Santa Cruz County, California, USA

Images of this individual: tag all
mysterious spider  - Araneus montereyensis - female mysterious spider  - Araneus montereyensis - female mysterious spider  - Araneus montereyensis - female mysterious spider  - Araneus montereyensis - female

Moved
Moved from Araneus. It's very hard to tell about the ridge. Levi's drawing make it look so much easier!

Well, I think this is our best guess for now. If you can get a close-up of the epigyne that will help us sort these out for sure.

Also, we still need to know the date you photographed this spider. Thanks!

Moved to genus
Do you have a date for this spider? Did you take any dorsal shots from directly above the spider? I'm looking to see if the abdomen has a ridge between the humps, Araneus bispinosus has this ridge, A. montereyensis does not. Also I'm looking to see if the abdomen points forward in the center. We should find that shape on Araneus bispinosus & A. mariposa.

One thing that bothers me about this one is that A. montereyensis is described as having head region black (front portion of the carapace). A. montereyensis also has less distinct humps than A. bispinosus.

I think this is a good example of how the carapace should look in A. montereyensis


I'm still not sure what to think, but I'll keep leaving notes as I read about these two.

 
hello~ i added a couple more
hello~
i added a couple more images... it looks to me like she has more of a ridge. unfortunately, i did not take better photographs of her.

A. montereyensis
I think this is the female, so now you have both sexes posted from your county.

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