Spider for id please

[Juliet1200]

Could anybody tell me what this is? It's guarding an egg sac - is that usual at this time of year or is it just because it's inside a nice warm house??



Thanks in advance

[Geoff F]

I suspect this is one of the Tegenaria species, but the legs are quite distinctively marked.

Any idea of size? Tegenaria females are between 10 and 15 mm body length; slightly smaller for males.

[nikolai_avenger]

Looks like Amaurobius sp. to me but can't quite see it well enough on my phone.

Cheers. Nik.

[MattPrince]

Well its not tegeneraia, or amaurobius on the abomdinal markings alone (Nik - use a monitor man ) not to mention the clearly annulated legs.

As to what it is.. Is it in a darkened room? Meta merianea perhaps? Would fit with the leg markings, what I can see of the abdominal and carapace markings and the strongly spiky palps.

A size would help.

Cheers,
Matt

[Juliet1200]

Sorry, forgot about size! It's probably about 7mm, but it's kind of curled up into a ball so at the moment so I can't check.

It's in the corner between the wall and ceiling in my hall and the only way I can get a photo is stand on the bottom stair and reach round the corner - this is the best I've managed. The light's not brilliant in there but part of the front door is glass so I wouldn't describe it as darkened.

Could it be Neriene montana? I've just seen this thread and it looks similar (superficially) but I really don't know what I'm looking for.... Distinctively marked spider with banded legs

I'm in Derby by the way.

[nikolai_avenger]

Originally Posted by MattPrince

(Nik - use a monitor man )

As to what it is.. Is it in a darkened room? Meta merianea perhaps? Would fit with the leg markings, what I can see of the abdominal and carapace markings and the strongly spiky palps.

Monitor is a bit impratical in certain situations, e.g. pub, bus stop, and the wife gets a bit narked when I unplug it from downstairs and bring it to bed, y'know how it is. Having said that, it's no good squinting at a phone screen trying to identify something either.

Back on the monitor now, and Meta merianea looks about right but I presume the adominal markings vary greatly on this spider? I don't have a lot of experience with M. merianea so I'm ducking out now.

Cheers. Nik.

[MattPrince]

Originally Posted by Juliet1200

Sorry, forgot about size! It's probably about 7mm, but it's kind of curled up into a ball so at the moment so I can't check.

It's in the corner between the wall and ceiling in my hall and the only way I can get a photo is stand on the bottom stair and reach round the corner - this is the best I've managed. The light's not brilliant in there but part of the front door is glass so I wouldn't describe it as darkened.

Could it be Neriene montana? I've just seen this thread and it looks similar (superficially) but I really don't know what I'm looking for.... Distinctively marked spider with banded legs

I'm in Derby by the way.

Hi Juliet,

If anything this illustrates how hard it can be to identify spiders from a single photograph, even a reasonably sharp one.

The size does fit with Neriene Montana, as do the ringed legs, and even the spiky palps. I don't think the abdominal markings are quite right, as I'd expect the pale around the sides of the abdomen to be visible and contrasting with a darker midline ~ having said that, I couldn't hand on heart rule it out.

One thing to look out for neriene is that its a sheet web weaver, and will typically hang under the web (as will most other linyphids) as opposed to meta and metallina which typically build angled or vertical orb webs. Meta and Metallina are sometimes called orb stretch spiders because they frequently stretch out their front legs. However in this case she's guarding a web, rather than catching prey - so the usual rules may not apply.

To Nik... things will hopefully get better when they finally produce the LED projectors that have been in the wings for ages, I quite look forward to projecting an overlarge image of a spiders jaws on the carriage wall during my weekly commute
As for M. Merianae, it is fairly variable, but more often than not would look darker on the abdomen than this one, and they tend to like darkened, often slightly damp areas, so I can't say I'm 100% happy with my proposed id either !

So.. when stumped back to basics... what about zygiella x-notata? Thats a common species around houses.... about the right size..

Cheers,
Matt

[UB4 gardener]

i would have said x-notata if anything.
Chris

[nikolai_avenger]

Maybe it's just the lighting in the photo - as mentioned by the OP it is not brilliant in the area where the spider was located - but there are a few things troubling me with putting this one down as x-notata.

1) the abdominal pattern looks wrong, not like the usual oak leaf markings I associate with z-x-n, unless it is perhaps a recently post gravid female with distorted abdomen.

2) the legs appear to be too heavily/darkly banded and not translucent or spotty enough (apologies for the lack of technical terms).

3) It lacks the silvery sheen of a z-x-n which is evident (I find) even in poor light.

Anyway, I don't intend to be beligerent and of course, concede that I am by no means an expert and therefore amenable to correction on any diagnoses proffered by me.

Cheers. Nik.

[Juliet1200]

Thanks for all the comments. I've had another look now that she's stretched out again and I think 7mm is maybe on the big side - probably 5 or 6 I think.

Web-wise, all I can see is random bits here and there. Certainly no orb web, but I can't see any sheet either.

Is there anything else I can look for / any other angle I can try to get a photo of to make id possible / more likely?