Orb-weaver - Eriophora edax

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Lynette Elliott, 22 January, 2013 - 8:13am

E. rosae is what we were thinking too

Don't know anything else that would look like this???

… john and jane balaban, 21 January, 2013 - 1:41pm

....

Eriophora edax?

… Laura P., 21 January, 2013 - 5:40pm

We wondered about that,

but we couldn't find anything on multiple tubercles. Did you find a reference?

… john and jane balaban, 21 January, 2013 - 6:36pm

...

Not tubercles but the Guide info page said they could have "two posterior humps in a row and other humps", I wasn't sure how to visualize that and I saw some tubercles on some of the ones we have filed there.

… Laura P., 21 January, 2013 - 7:09pm

...

It's actually just the way the stripe appears on the anterior abdomen that reminded me more of Eriophora edax, the examples we have of Eustala rosae just looked different to me (more of a "v"). I have no idea though, I was just throwing it out there as a similar looking species.

… Laura P., 21 January, 2013 - 7:15pm

We also liked the fuzziness of the abdomen anterior

for Eriophora. We stared at the eyes for a long time figuring we could tell Eriophora from Eustala, but it was a bust!

… john and jane balaban, 21 January, 2013 - 7:52pm

Eyes?

Hmm. Levi says of Eustala that the lateral eyes are "always smaller than the medians".

I looked through a few images of Eustala/Eriophora (by no means an exhaustive search, so my impressions may be biased) and it could be that Eustala have rather large medians arranged in roughly a box pattern, PMEs sometimes a little further apart than the AMEs. Some examples:

Eriophora may have PMEs a bit closer together, eyes generally more equally sized (but not always?):

If those are accurate impressions, I'd say this spider's eyes are a bit more Eriophora-like.

… Kyron Basu, 21 January, 2013 - 10:45pm

Nice research! Thanks Kyron

We looked but didn't see. Certainly seems obvious now that we look at the images you selected. Will need to get this on the info pages. And yes, this definitely makes the current spider look much rather to be Eriophora.

… john and jane balaban, 22 January, 2013 - 8:17am

Eriophora edax?

I also looked at this species, but discounted it based on the tubercles. However, I revisited Levi, 1970 and it appears this is E. edax. "The posterior dorsal hump is distinct in all specimens. But there may be two posterior humps in a row and other humps."

I agree it's a much better match for eyes, pattern & coloring than E. rosae. Great spider & images!

… Lynette Elliott, 22 January, 2013 - 8:12am

Thank you!

Woo-hoo. Thank you everyone. I sure learned a lot!

… cindykeiser, 28 January, 2013 - 8:19pm

Eustala rosae?

With range of CA and the three abdominal tubercles I think it must be E. rosae. However the color is way off for that species.. so I'm not sure what to think about that.

… Lynette Elliott, 21 January, 2013 - 10:27am