Tetragnatha sp. - is this one a male?

[Bruce Williams]

Stony Stratford, Bucks. In tunnel under A5. A 30 minute search of these tunnels would find a dozen of these on virtually any day over the last three months. This is the first one I've photographed with enlarged pedipalps which suggested to me that it was a male. However I'm no expert so I though I'd check just to be safe:





Bruce

[frits_b]

Yes, it's a subadult male. The palps are visibly swollen, but do not have structure yet.

[Bruce Williams]

That's really interesting - thanks Frits. So will it just change into a fully adult male over time or will it have to go through a further moult in order to reach full sexual maturity?

Bruce

[frits_b]

Nothing happens without moulting ;-)
Yes, it will have to moult at least once. Directly after the skin is shed you can see the mature pedipalps.
It looks like your spider may only have to moult once more, but I'm not entirely sure.

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Fritz. I check the tunnels out most weeks so (hopefully) sooner-or later I'll come across a fully adult specimen .

Bruce