My female GHS enjoying a mealworm

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[–] 6 points 4 months ago (1 child)

How big is this giant house?

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago

    That is funny! The term "house spider" is extremely ambiguous and can mean a dozen different spiders across many families depending on where you are. But with the "giant" it's quite specific.

    It would be really funny if there was a spider that would only live in giant houses and mansions, but wouldn't bother with smaller ones.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Very nice picture!

    How did you figure out the specific species?

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    Thanks! And that's a fair question as she was wild caught indoors, and we do have both E. duellica and E. atrica in our area. I have not identified her down to the species level, other than fellow enthusiasts weighing in based on general morphology. For accuracy's sake I should probably have posted her simply as Eratigena sp.

    EDIT fixed!

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago

    For accuracy’s sake I should probably have posted her simply as Eratigena sp.

    Their taxonomy is an absolute mess. All of Eratigena used to be Tegenaria (they are actual anagrams, lazy arachnologists!). But a bunch of species got moved around, split and merged again.

    I usually refer to them as "Eratigena in the atrica group". Inside that group you usually need microscopic examination of the genitalia to tell them apart with confidence.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)