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Unidentified

Picture ID 60109

Picture of unidentified spider

Comments & ID Thoughts

These were on the underside of a lid for a well - I initially didn't think they were spiders as they look sugar-coated or frosted. NEVER saw anything like them - they look like they live in the dark. Weird .

  • Submitted by: 
    rneubrand
  • Submitted: May 10, 2019
  • Photographed: May 9, 2019
  • Spider: Unidentified
  • Location: Aberfoyle, Ontario, Canada, Quebec, Canada
  • Spotted Outdoors: Under rock, log, or debris
  • Found in web?: Yes
  • Attributes:
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rneubrand

I had a hard time focussing on them and the lighting was bad – sorry for the poor quality of pictures – they almost seemed like they were dead, until they moved! They were on the underside of a lid to an old well crock.

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TangledWeb

I’ve got some gross news for you! Not gonna sugar coat it ;), they are dying from a parasitic fungus infection. They might be Pholcoid spiders (cellar spiders). The fungus grows inside them and can control their movements. There are many parasites that manipulate the behavior of the host to make the host into a vehicle to spread the parasite. In this case the spiders may be driven to expose themselves to wind currents to spread spores. The way we recognize the infection is (this is the worst part) that the fungus is literally bursting the spider at the seams.… Read more »

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