Need ID On South Carolina Spider

pitbulllady

Arachnoking
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May 1, 2004
Messages
2,290
I found this beauty crawling on a faux stucco wall outside my school building, about six feet off the ground,within a small courtyard, during my planning period, which I spent looking for spiders to photograph. The pics were taken this past Wednesday, March 1, and the weather was quite unseasonably warm. The spider appears to be a mature female, is about a half-inch, or slightly over 1 cm, in overall length, from front legs to the rear of the abdomen. The abdomen and carapace were very irridescent, showing purples, greens and blues, depending on how the light hit her, and the legs were that red-orange color. I know it's not a Widow, but perhaps a Steotoda of some sort? She was not particularily fast or skittish. I've never seen one like this before, and I'd really like some clue to her indentify. I'm in South Carolina, in case anyone didn't catch that in the title, in the northeastern quadrant of the state.

http://www.deviantart.com/view/29859161/
http://www.deviantart.com/view/29859263/

pitbulllady
 

padkison

Arachnoangel
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Dec 8, 2005
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My best guess is a type of wolf spider (family Lycosidae) or a sac spider (family Clubionidae).

Try posting your pictures on Bugguide.net
 

pitbulllady

Arachnoking
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May 1, 2004
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I know it's definately NOT a Wolf Spider, as I'm familiar with all the ones we have here. South Carolina is the only state I know of that actually has an Official State Arachnid, the Carolina Wolf Spider. I didn't know that people could post pics on Bugguide.net, though, so I'll have to check that out.

pitbulllady
 

Bungholio

Arachnosquire
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Aug 28, 2005
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Very interesting spider!
Have you noticed the first pair of her legs? They are very thicker as the others.
How big was the spider?
 

RVS

Arachnobaron
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Aug 11, 2005
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My guess would be possibly Dysdera sp., but I can't tell that well from the photo.
 

Venom

Arachnoprince
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Jul 21, 2002
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You have a Trachelas tranquillas, "broad-faced sac spider." They are considered of mild medical significance, due to the fact that they will feed on already-dead arthropods, and therefore carry bacteria on their jaws that can cause a nasty infection if you are bitten. They also make good captives, aggressive feeders :) Cool find!
 
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