Thanatus vulgaris?

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diadematus

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Messages
125
This little gal showed up in the carton of microcrickets...

The guys at Martin Lemke's Spinnen-Forum helped me narrow it down to either
Thanatus vulgaris or possibly the common Philodromus dispar. Body length is about 4 mm.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin_pfeiffer/295956152/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin_pfeiffer/295954741/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin_pfeiffer/297576910/

She's in a container (with a book over the top as she can really climb) and has consumed several microcrickets tonight. In German the general name is Laufspinne, I think ("running spider").

-Kevin
 
D

diadematus

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
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Messages
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Molted

She molted today. How long might it be before she is ready to hunt for prey again? BTW, almost definately Thanatus vulgaris -- an American import.

It's remarkable how much smaller the opisthosoma is now, in proportion to the prosoma. Below her, in the picture, is the "exuvium" (my new word for the day).

-K
 

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Sof

Arachnoknight
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Nice spider, I've never seen this one before. Don't feed it for 3 - 4 days after she molted depending on her size. How big is she now? Whenever you get around to feeding her again you should post pics of her eating :D
 
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diadematus

Arachnosquire
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Sof said:
Nice spider, I've never seen this one before. Don't feed it for 3 - 4 days after she molted depending on her size. How big is she now? Whenever you get around to feeding her again you should post pics of her eating :D
Click to expand...
So far, her catching prey has always happened "off-stage", because it goes so quickly. I've noticed I have to be careful with size, as she's still no longer than 4mm; without the leverage and entrapment benefits that the orb weavers enjoy, she is not capable, it seems, of catching anything much larger than herself.

Here is another picture, from yesterday. Notice how much darker the prosoma has become.
 

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Sof

Arachnoknight
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I thought she would have been bigger, the picture is deceiving haha.

She looks even better now, nice shot as well, very sharp.
 
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diadematus

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
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For the feeding fans

Another feeding photo, this time Thanatus vulg. with a pinhead cricket. The spider is now approx. 5 mm long. This is a composite of two images to increase DOF (depth of field). The color seems to have gone off in the wrong direction, though. :-(
 

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