2023 January 31
2023 January 31
Rosemary Jorna writes: I met this little spider way out in the forest near Tugwell Creek on January 30. He was quite lively in spite of the ice crystals on the leaves around him.
It was provisionally labelled here as a theridiid, but Dr Robb Bennett writes: I noticed an error with respect to the 30 January spider of Rosemary Jorna – nice image. Catherine Scott pointed out to us that it’s not a theridiid. For one thing, it has macrosetae (large moveable “spines”) on its legs which, characteristically, theridiids lack. So we had another look and agree that it is a linyphiid, probably Pityohyphantes rubrofasciatus.

Immature male Pityohyphantes (probably rubrofasciatus) Rosemary Jorna