Spider with nest and harvestmen for ID

[Africa]

This spider has made an egg sac and is inside with the eggs on a fig leaf. Any chance of identifiying it? I had never seen anything like it.


These two harvestmen were around in my garden yesterday. I'd love to give them names...

[Action_Man]

I think the 1st Opilione is Rilaena triangularis, and the 2nd is a juvenile Opilio canestrinii, i dont see enough of R. triangularis to be sure, but i`m semi-confident, the Opilio canestrinii is a little easier to ID, as i see them quite frequently ...

[Geoff F]

I suppose the obvious guess for the spider is Pisaura mirabilis inside it's 'nursery'.

Rilaena triangularis is the commonest harvestman here at this time of the year, although mine are always a brownish colour. But colour is variable so that doesn't really count.

The apophysis on the pedipalp patella appears a bit small but there is definitely something there and it may well be a difficult camera angle. So I agree, Rilaena triangularis does look likely.

[Africa]

Thank you Action_Man! I read somewhere that Opilio canestrinii is a southern species that has recolonised N Europe recently. So I guess it has reached the UK now.

[Africa]

Our messages must have crossed Geoff F, thank you for the harvestment IDs. As for the spider, I've never seen Pisaura mirabilis in my garden - I'd love to -, but that aside, the spider inside the nest is quite small and has short legs, and there are no spiderlings, only eggs inside. I have seen photos of Pisaura carrying its egg sac on its mouth, which also rules out Pisaura. The silk texture is also very different, here very finely woven and very white, and there is no tent, just a flat sac, with the eggs in a cluster in the middle and the mother moving around them. I was doing some research yesterday and read that Clubiona attaches its eggs to a folded leaf and guards them, which matches the behaviour of this one, but not the folding of the leaf.

[Action_Man]

I`m not too sure about Opilio canestrinii`s range, but i live near Preston, and they are pretty abundant here, and they have been here for a number of years ...

[John_M]

That's not a Pisaura mirabilis nursery web, they are bigger and the spider usually sits outside; their eggs are contained in a sac and are not normally individually visible.
I would have thought more likely Clubonia or one of the Gnaphosidae.

[Africa]

Gordon, I forgot to say, your site is great and packed with info.
John_M Thanks a lot for the pointers, having read the descriptions of nests by Gnaphosidae I think it is spot on!