Unidentified

Picture ID 153020

Picture of unidentified spider

Comments & ID Thoughts

This is my 3 year old female D. Tenebrosus (dark fishing spider), Ms. Fisher. The last few times she molted, I've noticed a spot of bright rusty orange by her fangs that is becoming more pronounced. I cannot seem to find this coloring in other pictures online, nor have I been successful in finding any articles about it either.

@tangledweb , @itsybitsy , (or anyone else) do you have any insight into this beyond it just being part of her coloring? Does it designate a sub type of D. tenebrosus, indicate health/maturity, exist for a specific purpose, or is a result of some other interesting reason?

  • Submitted by: 
    Towerchick
  • Submitted: Dec 16, 2021
  • Photographed: Dec 15, 2021
  • Spider: Unidentified
  • Location: Goodrich, Michigan, United States
  • Spotted Indoors: Basement or Cellar
  • Found in web?: Yes
  • Attributes:
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LittleSlingLover

My understanding is that this is completely natural. From my experience, first hand and from using the internet, I’ve seen quite a few Araneomorphae’s and Mygalomorphae’s who have this. I believe it is just the natural coloration of the chelicerae at that spot. The color does seem to vary from species to species but I’ve specifically seen it first hand with some of my tarantula’s. Here are a few pictures of T. Tenebrosus with it, 2 females and 1 male, https://bugguide.net/node/view/1798490/bgimage As well as a large, adult female Wolf Spider (Tigrosa aspersa) https://bugguide.net/node/view/635515 As well, it could be a sign… Read more »

TangledWeb

https://bugguide.net/node/view/255238 Thanks for the intriguing question! The link is a Bugguide discussion of what the orange things (parts of the chelicerae) are on a Wolf Spider.
There are ducts that run from glands to carry venom and digestive fluid into the hollow fangs. They could be considered part of the chelicerae structure. The chelicerae are muscular and move the fangs and house the fangs and ducts.
As spiders age perhaps the tubes become more revealed. It’s weird that they are the same color in different types of spiders. I’ll look for an anatomy chart that shows this.

TangledWeb

blob:https://spiderid.com/103a516c-d000-4a7f-a4e1-a9a12599a3a3 It appears to be the “poison gland.” I didn’t find any labelled actual photos, but many hand-drawn anatomy charts that depict it in orange.

TangledWeb

blob:https://spiderid.com/6a0d5179-3690-4159-a244-ab3185e2e97d Well, that explains why I never found the anatomy chart on our site before. We have parts of our site that are best found through an exterior search engine. Some countries have hundreds of submissions that haven’t been visible for at least a year. If you find a country that seems to lack earlier submissions try googling our website and that country together. The submissions exist still. I don’t know anymore what is missing. Google is sadly the best way to search the site. I linked the next-best anatomy drawing I could find. Most don’t include the brain and… Read more »

TangledWeb

It is cool that it shows eye glow from different angles. That shows that the effect isn’t just from light refraction on one plane. The crystals are arranged in the eye to amplify available light. We used to have a professor that volunteered for us. He explained eye glow in detail, I wish it had been made into a linkable page.