Sphodros niger photoshoot

[WithCerberus]

Here is my fat little girl after I changed her enclosure today. She has grown a lotsince the last time I unearthed her. Enjoy :)

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_1225/T520051225103159850.jpg

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_1225/T520051225103159741.jpg

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_1225/T520051225103159178.jpg

peace,

Bobby

[bistrobob85]

Wow, nice color and huge mouth parts!!!! How big is she?!?!

[WithCerberus]

she is about 2 cm in body length.

peace,

Bobby

[WithCerberus]

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_1225/T520051225143149606.jpg

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_1225/T520051225143149825.jpg

peace,

Bobby

[Cigarman]

whoa, do NOT upset the lady!:eek:

[Anthony]

Holy Moley! Now that is a set of fangs, be careful

[Scolopendra55]

Where did you get that? Those are the most feresome fangs I have ever seen :eek::eek:

[WithCerberus]

I found her after long hours of searching in western Kentucky. She had her tube in a stream bank attached to a Christmas fern. The pictures look pretty fearsome but she is only a little squirt. This is an older pic of her so you can see her size.

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_0926/T520050926184007222.jpg

Bobby

[hamfoto]

she's cute!!! but geez, those fangs are as long as her legs are!

cool...

Chris

[Tegenaria]

Fantastic!

[WithCerberus]

Her new tube that she has built.

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_1229/T520051229162934616.jpg

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_1229/T520051229162934475.jpg

peace,

Bobby

[David_F]

Great pics of an impressive spider, Bobby. Congrats on finding her as well. I spent a bit of time last spring and summer looking for a couple Sphodros spp. around here with no luck. Can't wait for spring to get here so I can get out and look some more.

Have you ever been able to breed any Sphodros spp.?

[WithCerberus]

I know first hand how frustrating it can be to look for these guys. Don't give up though. How close are you to the west campus of theUniversity of Kansas?
If you are veryclose there is a journal article that pretty much pinpoints the location of a group of Sphodros fitchi. If you want more info on this article pm me and I'll get it to you.

peace,
Bobby

[Bok]

Wow!Can see it fangs long n sharp.

[David_F]

If you are veryclose there is a journal article that pretty much pinpoints the location of a group of Sphodros fitchi. If you want more info on this article pm me and I'll get it to you.

peace,
Bobby
I think I'm a couple hours away from the west campus. Curious to see if S. fitchi is found around here (Manhattan).

Thanks for the offer but I think I have the paper you mention (spiderling dispersal, Cutler & Guarisco?). Good stuff in it. Will be looking for a couple other papers at the K State library soon.

Once again, great pics. Very cool little spiders.

[WithCerberus]

That would be the one 8)

Bobby

[WithCerberus]

Ok, since I have moved her to a new and larger enclosure my little girl seems a bit confused. She has spun a sheet web and runs across it like a funnel web (which is pretty cool to see)! This has me a little bit worried though, since it is not normal behavior. She is eating though which is good.
http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_0207/T520060207074344731.jpg
peace,
Bobby

[WithCerberus]

i decided to make another starter burrow for her. She happily went in and started working on her new tube but she was pretty pissed off none the less.
enjoy the pics.
http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_0208/T520060208133549331.jpg

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_0208/T520060208133548769.jpg

http://imageserver1.textamerica.com/user.images.x/69/IMG_393969/_0208/T520060208133548175.jpg
peace,
Bobby

[Malhavoc's]

Perhaps too moist, Shes adapting to the fact that she hasn't found a suitable funnel location yet, give her time she'll settle in. Its one of those "Well if I see no place to put a house, I'll make a tent and lay on the grass"

[WithCerberus]

It might be that it is too moist but I doubt it. Her new enclusure is no more damp than her last ones. Since I have taken those pics she has already built her new tube.

bobby

[heyjeyniceid]

WithCerberus,

What is your camera and settings for pictures with white backgrounds?

[Cheshire]

Bobby...is that a WC spider?

That seems like a cool pet. I wouldn't mind having one.

[WithCerberus]

@evil cheshire- yes this is a WC spider and they do make pretty cool pets. It is awesome to watch them feed. Unfortunately for enthusiast and fortunately for the spiders they are very hard to find. This spider was my holy grail while I was working in Kentucky.

@heyjeyniceid- I used a Pentax Optio S50 5MP set on the super-macro mode to take these pics. The background is just a matte plastic sheet. I did have to clean the pics up with photoshop a bit though.

peace,
Bobby

[Malkavian]

how does one go about hunting for those? Just check everywhere that might be a suitable location for a tube?

[WithCerberus]

the easiest way is to get your hands on some of the journal articles and go to the places where they have been recorded in the past. Other than that, yeah you pretty much look all over the suitable habitat for a tube. i found the girl in this thread in the mossy bank of a creek.
peace,
Bobby

[Cheshire]

I'm working from a school computer that doesn't have adobe reader, so I can't get the actual article.

I believe this might help with the range (will someone please post and tell me if this species occurrs in Iowa?)

http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_tocs/JOA_contents_v14n1.html

It is the second entry under research notes

Another:

http://kaston.transy.edu/spiderlist/atyplist.htm

Another one from this forum that I found while google-bombing

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/printthread.php?t=24124

Not niger (SPHODROS RUFIPES), but in the same genus:

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=Sphodros+niger&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&x=wrt&u=www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v31_n3/arac-031-03-0437.pdf&w=sphodros+niger&d=VPuDzG1aMQHE&icp=1&.intl=us

[WithCerberus]

I checked the 1980 Gertsch and Platnick paper and at the time of the article none of the Sphodros species had been collected in Iowa. Iowa does seem to be in the range of S.niger and S.fitchi though. I wouldn't be surprized ifsome have popped up since that paper.

peace,
Bobby