Possibly Philodromus sp male?

[Geoff F]

From my S. Devon garden yesterday. Approx 5-6 mm going by the leaf size.



When I first spotted this specimen, basking in weak sunshine with it's first 2 pairs of legs together, I thought about a smallish Pisaura mirabilis but after looking through the lens I changed my option to Lycosidae sp. Then after viewing it on my computer screen, I'm thinking that the arrangement of eyes and rather long second legs are more like Philodromus sp.

But would it appear to be a bit on the large size for a male? At least the commoner species like P. aureolus/cespitum.

So I would appreciate an opinion from someone with more experience in this field.

ps. not the best of photos, but I only managed 4 quick distant snaps before a fly (probably Bluebottle sp.) ran across the leaf and actually pushed the spider away!

[frits_b]

Hi Geoff,

It's definitely a Philodromus male. They shouldn't exceed about 5mm, so it's a big one if the size is correct.

I think it is indeed a species from the P. aureolus group, as they call it. This includes aureolus, cespitum (the two most common species) and a handfull other species, which are very hard to tell apart.

From May through August you may expect to find adult P. aureolus and P. cespitum spiders.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the confirmation. It does appear to be a mature male, which I thought was possibly a touch early, but a little bit of sunshine between the showers is starting to produce a selection of Spring creatures now.

[Action_Man]

It could be a sub-adult Philodromus dispar, i had one pretty similar to that last year, which i thought was adult, but moulted into a nice purple/blue P. dispar ..

[frits_b]

I don't think it's a P. dispar. You should be able to see the sharp contrast between the dark back and the light sides of the abdomen, like in this one:

This is a subadult P. dispar which I found a couple of days ago. I'm hoping to be able to raise it to adulthood and see it turn metallic black in the end ;-)

[Action_Man]

It was just a thought, as this species changes colour when mature, and can be quite confusing.

This is the one i had last year, it completely changed colour at its last moult ..
Flickr Photo Download: Philodromus (sp)

[frits_b]

Originally Posted by Action_Man

This is the one i had last year, it completely changed colour at its last moult ..
Flickr Photo Download: Philodromus (sp)

Wow, that must be quite a metamorphosis, exactly what I'm hoping for!