Without looking too hard, I’ve been able to find and identify several species of spiders in our backyard over the last couple of days. Most of them have been hanging out on man-made structures – the fence, stucco, and so on.
First up is what I believe to be Mecaphesa asperata, the northern crab spider. Despite the “northern” in its common name, this spider has a range into the southwest. This species has more conspicuous hairs than the flower crab spider (Misumena vatia) and seems to stay more of a pale color.
This little jumping spider is probably a species from the genus Pelegrina.
This particular spider had me really searching through my guides and online, but it seems to be Titanebo californicus. It’s a type of running crab spider.
This last spider is a smaller species of wolf spider, from the genus Allocosa. It’s not as hairy as most Lycosids tend to be, but it has the characteristic wolf spider eye arrangement – which made identifying it a little easier.
It’s also worth noting that our small Santa Rita prickly pear is home to no fewer than three tiny orb weavers. One of them is a labyrinth orb weaver, but I’m not certain about the other two. What other spiders will turn up as the days get warmer?
Bug Talk 