Back spider with dark magenta legs

[Gateside]

I was wondering if this could be identified, or a pointer towards a genus, then maybe I can follow-up if this is possible with further images.

Body size about 6-7 mm long. Fairly featureless, but some legs are a paler magenta on the underside. Palps look club-like, so maybe a male.

The abdomen is covered in fine paler hairs on a black carapace, and rear end of the abdomen has a sort of embossed pattern that is difficult to describe. In retrospect I probably need to load that as well.

Any suggestions?

Nigel

[Gateside]

Obviously I meant BLACK spider!

Two more images now added - of the abdomen, showing the embossed pattern towards the rear.

Hope this helps.

[Pigeon feather]

Mouse spider perhaps

[Pepsis]

Yep, Scotophaeus blackwalli (Gnaphosidae).

[MattPrince]

The difference in abodminal patterning - the smooth area is the dorsal scutum of the male is it not?

Cheers,
Matt

[Gateside]

Thanks to all concerned above who replied.
Having checked a Danish website with good pictures, it certainly does look like it, but that site only appeared to have images of females. So not sure if this is it, or just something that confusingly looks like it.
I am only sceptical because it looks like an interesting observation, so worth verifying. There don't seem to be many obs in Cumbria, having looked at the data via NBN.

I am going to check with a spider expert. Please forgive me if one of you IS a spider expert!

Nigel

[Pepsis]

The spider expert will tell you its Scotophaeus blackwalli, adult male.

To MattPrince: What you pointed out is, in this particular case, not the dorsal scutum. This structure appears as a hairless sclerotized patch. However, its size is extremely variable among different specimens (and this happens in all Scotophaeus species). It can be absent (as in this one), slightly visible (small) or very noticeable (larger).
Here are two photographs of males of S. blackwalli which show the degree of variabilty of this structure:
Datei:Scotophaeus blackwalli m (2).JPG ? Wiki des Spinnen-Forums
Datei:Scotophaeus-blackwalli Sassenberg 10-01 02.jpg ? Wiki des Spinnen-Forums

[MattPrince]

Doh! Thank you Pepsis, very informative as always.
Cheers!
Matt

[Gateside]

Thank you Pepsis. That sounds quite categoric! So I have an interesting observation, which I will pass on to the national recording scheme. I have asked my spider expert, but am not expecting anything different, of course. The species spread gets very sparse towards the north of the UK, so supposedly it is a warm-loving species.

Nigel