The Common Spiders of the United StatesEmerton, J. H. (James Henry)
Science
The Common Spiders of the United States
Emerton, J. H. (James Henry)
Spiders -- United States
$Trachelas ruber.$--One-third of an inch long, with the cephalothorax
short and wide like Clubiona, and the deep orange-brown color of
Dysdera. The cephalothorax is almost as wide as long, and widest
opposite the second legs. The head is three-quarters as wide as the
thorax and as high in the middle halfway between the eyes and the dorsal
groove. The front of the head is low, as in Clubiona. The front row of
eyes is a little curved, so that the middle pair are half their diameter
higher than the lateral. The upper row is much longer and the lateral
eyes are farther from the middle than these are from each other. The
labium and maxillæ are like those of Clubiona and the palpi very
slender. The first pair of legs are thicker than the others and as long
as the fourth. The second pair are also somewhat thickened. The legs are
orange brown, darkest on the front pair. The cephalothorax is dark brown
and finely roughened over the whole surface, without hairs except in
front. The abdomen is pale, with no markings except over the dorsal
vessel and the muscular spots. Some light-colored individuals have all
the colors paler. Under stones and leaves.
[Illustration: FIGS. 67, 68, 69. Chiracanthium viride.--67, female
enlarged four times. 68, eyes from in front. 69, maxillæ, labium, and
mandibles from below.]
$Chiracanthium viride.$--This has the color and general appearance of
the Clubionas, but the legs are longer and the first legs are
considerably longer than the fourth. The body is shorter and the abdomen
is wider and thicker in the middle. The female (fig. 67) is a third of
an inch long and the front legs two-fifths of an inch. The eyes (fig.
68) are arranged as in Clubiona. The maxillæ and labium are like those
of Clubiona, but the sternum is shorter and rounder. The head is but
little narrowed and the eyes cover almost its whole width. The upper
spinnerets are longer than the lower and distinctly two-jointed. The
spines of the legs are small and inconspicuous. The color in life is
greenish white, the mandibles brown, and the stripe over the dorsal
vessel darker than the rest of the abdomen.
The male has the front legs nearly three times as long as the body,
though the other legs are not much longer than in the female. The
mandibles are also elongated, as in the males of Clubiona. The male
palpi have the tarsus long, with a pointed process that extends backward
over the tibia between two processes on that joint.
THE DYSDERIDÆ
The Dysderidæ are a small family of spiders resembling in their general
appearance the Drassidæ, but differing from them in several important
characters. They have only six eyes instead of the usual eight, and they
have four breathing holes in the front of the abdomen, two of them
leading to the usual lungs and the others to the air-tubes, which in
most spiders open just in front of the spinnerets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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