Wikipedia:WikiProject Spiders/Undetermined pictures


 * Archive 1

More unidentified spiders can be found on commons:Category:Unidentified Araneae. Please be sure to mark pictures with yet undetermined species with this category.

Labelling pictures
I get the notion that rather often you cannot for sure say if it's species a or b, because these two look *exactly alike* unless you cut them open under a microscope. That said, should we start to use the scientific naming convention with "cf.", meaning "looks like"? or should be just call this darling here Leucauge tesselata? I think if you have a species determined from a picture to cf.-level by a professional, you probably won't get any further, so these pictures should go from undetermined to their determined places ;) --Sarefo 00:03, 31 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I've had big arguments concerning Salticidae and tarantulas. (One person told me my tarantula was another species than the dealer had claimed it to be.)  When I've consulted the experts they in both cases said, "Sorry, can't say for sure without looking at her private parts under a microscope."  In the case of the jumping spider I managed to get her into a small transparent container and hold in place with a light puff of cotton. Then I turned her upside down under a microscope. Even then I felt my own judgment was perhaps sugjective since I had no prior experience looking from a cryptic drawing to the real thing obscured by shadows.  Usually what I do is say, e.g., Phidippus species, or Phidippus johnsoni (?) depending on how big a limb I think I'm standing on. Bottom line, if the experts can't look at a photo and say, "That's definitely not a P. johnsoni!" then I'm not too worried about it, and the (?) gives me some cover if I later send her dead body off for professional opinion and the expert says its P. whatever.


 * "Cf. is frequently misused. Literally it means "compare," but my understanding is that it is to be used when there is actually a difference, i.e., it should be used when you want to contrast something, introduce an opposing opinion, etc.  Either way, it doesn't mean "looks like."  Since we are not paying for paper and ink, why not "Spider from Java (similar to XXX yyy"? P0M 14:32, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I concur that identifying to species from a picture is very difficult. I can do it fairly well with Dolomedes from North America, but even then it is a challenge if the photo is blurry. I've ID'd spiders to family or genus from photos, but that requires seeing the eye arrangement. A friend of mine, a professional photographer, has taken some lovely pictures of spiders in Nevada. He does not know how to insert photos in wikipedia, and he has some lovely ones of juvenile Dolomedes I would like to add to that article. Can anyone help? Dolomedes 20:31, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Ant spiders

 * Image:Antspider.JPG
 * i don't know Japanese, so i can't tell what the original site says. however, it's linked at the gallery at the bottom of Jumping spider, as a zodariid ground spider. which is not a salticid, but belongs to Zodariidae, from which the following picture is taken:
 * Image:Ant Mimic Spider.jpg
 * Now, i've never seen a zodariid ant-mimicking spider (except if the one above is one), but this (second) spider very much looks like an albeit weird jumping spider to me. Maybe Myrmarachne?
 * i exchanged the pictures. --Sarefo 06:54, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
 * The Japanese says its "arigumo." Unfortunately that just means "ant spider".P0M 20:07, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
 * The second spider may well be one of the Salticidae. Synemosyna or ''Peckhamia' have species that mimic ants. Somebody may have seen the second listed under Jumping spiders and put their photo there by analogy. P0M 20:24, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I more and more think it's a Myrmarachne, because of the dent in the abdomen. There are rather a few (espescially salticid) genera with ant mimicry, and i don't have pictures or good descriptions of most of them. --Sarefo 22:07, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
 * See: commons:Araneae. I think that the Myrmarachne used to be considered to be among the Salticidae. If you Google on Myrmarache japonica you will find pictures there.  Many people still mention the family as Salticidae. If you can identify any of the others there, please either let me know or fill the i.d. in.  P0M 23:21, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Myrmarachne is 100% salticid, no question. I wouldn't say that this is a M. japonica without checking at least some more of the other 203 described species, but they certainly do look really similar. And, Japanese webpage, M. japonica, hmm :) Too bad, i would have liked it to be a zodariid ;) So i guess both ant spider pictures are Myrmarachne. Sarefo 23:34, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Neoscona frog spider

 * Image:Frog spider2.jpg
 * Unknown species, i could not tell that it was not Portia (spider), and the one that took it copied it into the Portia articles of several WPs (en,de,fr iirc), and i'd really like to know what it is :) --Sarefo 06:11, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Shyamal suggested it could be a Neoscona (Araneidae). --Sarefo 06:24, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Neoscona weave orb webs, and the spider in the photo looks like it may be a hunter that has more the habits of the crab spiders. The legs are held similarly, however. But so, too, Nuctenea. Unfortunately there may be no way of knowing whether this spider planned to be where it was photographed or had been knocked off its web or something. Also, it would be nice to know its approximate size. P0M 20:24, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Also, cephalothorax shape is wrong. Araniella is closer in that regard. Too bad the eyes aren't all in the picture. P0M 20:54, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Check out this picture. I think it is a male Neoscona. These things look possessed ;) And I have to tell you, it's really hard for me to tell where the head is :) --Sarefo 00:23, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
 * It looks like the same thing to me, too. But having been wrong before, and having neither an indication of size nor a clear picture of the eye configuration, I guess I would vote for calling it:


 * Neoscona crucifera(?)

Have a look at the spider pix page on Commons and see what you think the cute tri-colored spider is. I was convinced that it could not crawl glass, but again I was wrong, so I did not get many pictures of it. Dr. Richman thinks it is immature. I've never been able to find anything remotely like it. P0M 14:01, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Unicorn spider
(Click on the picture to see a large version.)

There is a picture of a spider on the Commons that is identified as a "wolf spider", and taken in Spain it seems. To me it looks like a member of the Pisauridae, but note the "crest" ending in what appears to be a needle point spearing straight ahead. Can anybody identify this one? It would be great to see pictures from the front. I have downloaded the full-size file. Unfortunately it is a little out of focus, so I am not seeing the eyes too clearly, but their appear to be four of them arranged along the top front, instead of the two extra-large ones that one notices first with a wolf spider.
 * P0M 01:13, 20 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Looks like a Pisaura to me. The back is different from P. mirabilis, but the front is very similar (especially the light band). Platnick says that except from P. mirabilis, P. novicia and P. orientalis occur in the Mediterranean, and P. quadrilineata on the Canary Islands (although then it probably should have four stripes). Unfortunately i could not find any descriptions/pictures on those species. --Sarefo 13:33, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Ed Nieuwenhuys says it could be a P. mirabilis, check out the pictures on the variability in this species --Sarefo 18:16, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I immediately said 'Pisaura' and 'Mirabilis(?)' because that's the commonest here in the UK. Spanish species may have different probabilities, or the same species in Spain may look different! I don't think the "crest" is significant - probably just a single hair that has 'caught the light' ie retro-reflector. --195.137.93.171 (talk) 21:46, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

metallic green chelicerae
any idea what this could be? looks interesting, i'd like to start an article :) (or maybe i already did?) --Sarefo 19:09, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

there are more pics of this specimen: Image:Araña Mandaio 07-0-2006 09.jpg, Image:Araña Mandaio 07-0-2006 06.jpg, Image:Araña Mandaio 07-0-2006 13.jpg and possibly Image:Araña Mandaio 07-05-2006 05.jpg.


 * I'm pretty sure all these photos are of the same spider. I count 6 eyes. Can anybody see another two eyes somewhere? (The number of eyes will help identification.) P0M 15:21, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Look at Segestria florentina. Ariadna bicolor is similar too. The eyes, however, seem more like it could be on of the Loxoscelidae -- also consistent with Atypus, wspecially Atypus affinis. I count two tarsi, 6 eyes. Atypus affinis is one of the Mygalomorphs. Unfortunately there is no way to tell from the photographs which way the chelicerae articulate. I don't see the spinerettes, so I think they must be relatively short. Therefore it is not one of the Dipluridae. Both Segestria florentina and Atypus affinis have the metallic green chelicerae. It's too bad the photographer didn't put anything in to give us a sense of size. If it's an Atypus, however, they tend to stand their ground and make a very impressive threat display, so maybe the photographer was wise not to try to get the spider to pose in any particular way. I get the feeling that the chelicerae of this spider are somewhat smaller than those of Atypus. Atypus should be in its purse web, especially since this is a female. The eyes of Segestria fall in another pattern, so I'd probably settle on Atypus affinis if forced to guess. Do we know for sure where this spider was photographed? A. affinis in European. P0M 02:51, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

It's a Segestria florentina, i created an article for it. --Sarefo 21:52, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Spiders from Morelia, Mexico
I've been taking pictures of spiders found on that area. A few ones I'd like to propose at common's quality pictures, but I'd need a hand with the taxa. Here they are.

Garden spider showing epigyne
This is the bottom side, unfortunately (and since the spider was within a fenced area) I couldn't get a shot of it's upper side. It was found on a cool climate mountainy like town at Morelia. Size was about 2 inches including legs. -- Drini 21:44, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

It's probably Argiope aurantia. Sanba38

Or an adult St. Andrew's Cross spider, although that sounds a bit big.

Spider belly?
I found this on a garden, it's about 3/4 inch, same location. At first I thought it was the bottom side, but then I got convinced it's a rear view. I took next day Image:Fat spider.jpg and it's the usual frontal view. Somehow it amused me the rear legs seemed to be over the body and ending at the head. -- Drini 21:44, 29 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Spiders frequently "ball up" like this when they have been disturbed and want to protect themselves. If the web was shaken this spider may have been feeling a bit defensive. Her next move probably would have been to bail out like a diver on the end of a bungee cord. When she reached the ground she would have scuttled off to the safety of overhanging vegetation or whatever offered her the most protection.

I have one tarantula who is rather shy, and she adopts this posture quite frequently. P0M 04:08, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

A bee-like spider
A bitch spider found at w:Morelia, Mexico, outdoors in an abandoned lot. Size is about 1/2 inch ~ 1 cm (without legs). This one I liked it since it has a bee-like pattern. I wish I could have gotten a better quality picture.


 * Argiope trifasciata --Sarefo 22:50, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I also have a dozen or so more spiders, but the images are not as goog as these. -- Drini 21:51, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Spider fighting
Images were uploaded for the article. Could you identify the spider species?-- Lenticel ( talk ) 03:31, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * This photo is much too poorly focused to say much about the genus, much less the species. I'm pretty sure that it is a web weaver. P0M (talk) 00:26, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Unknown spider
I have found this spider (link si to an imgur album) in my town (Orsay, France). I have a strong suspicion it's Meta menardi, but the colouring is a bit different — it doesn't have stripped legs, for example.

What would you say?

Cheers, Thouny  (talk), on 12:11, 20 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Update!
 * I'm pretty sure it is actually Meta bourneti, as this species sports a fainter folium and no rings on its legs (by HUBERT Michel, Les Araignées — Généralités — Araignées de France et des pays limitrophes, p.158.
 * Cheers, Thouny  (talk), on 20:54, 21 September 2015 (UTC)