Which spider is this? - Falconina gracilis

Moved

Moved from Spiders.

… Lynette Elliott, 10 January, 2014 - 7:43am

New male photo here

… Lynette Elliott, 14 May, 2013 - 8:35am

Would like one

Interesting. I'd love for someone to send me one for definitive ID and deposit in the UT Austin collection. I'll need an adult, or else it sent live.

Out of curiosity, are fire ants known to this region? There's an apparently unconfirmed hypothesis that this critter is associated with fire ants.

F. gracilis can be found under rocks overwintering as adults in Austin. Maybe you can turn over some rocks looking for more? They are fast, though.

… Joe Lapp, 1 January, 2013 - 1:50am

FYI on this one

Turns out it really was a range expansion (or new introduction) to California — http://bugguide.net/node/view/896234

… Mandy Howe, 23 February, 2014 - 6:51pm

Thanks for the update Mandy. I spoke with Rick right after seeing this entry on BugGuide but had to stay mum until his publication was out.

… Joe Lapp, 23 February, 2014 - 8:29pm

Haha, ditto! =)

… Mandy Howe, 23 February, 2014 - 9:37pm

I'll keep searching

This one is elusive but with the cold temps recently, it wouldn't have gone far.

Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with fire ants to say if we have them. The only ones in the area of this spider were so tiny and shiny black, I couldn't get an image of one.

… Cynthia Bingham Keiser, 3 January, 2013 - 11:02am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Lynette Elliott, 31 December, 2012 - 8:20pm

Falconia gracilis?

Pattern seems to match Falconia gracilis nicely. This looks like a juvenile male.

The species is not on Steve Lew's list for CA though, which is an issue we haven't resolved yet. There was an earlier submission from Orange County that also had a matching pattern:

Let's see what others think. We may need to do more research.

… Kyron Basu, 30 December, 2012 - 4:04pm