Cave Spiders

[ian mckenzie]

[Pierre]

Hey there
I found the chat by coincidence. I am flattered that someone mentioned my name in there. My old email is not forwarding the recent things, sorry for that... But hey, here is your answer. It looks (95% confidence here) that it is indeed Meta ovalis. Do not trust too much the dorsal pattern and it varies and it is not a highly reliable character. Also, female adults, adult males and juveniles do not have the same pattern. But M. ovalis is my best guess. In 2003, I did a distribution map of the species and this record in Florida would be an interesting range expansion. For your info, the species is interestingly found more on the surface at its northern limits (here in Quebec) where we find it in forests, on cliffs, and in house basements (in old houses). I found it in many caves on the east coast, but I never been in FL. To confirm the ID, I would have to examine an adult.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

[Buford]

Pierre
It helps immensely, and thank you! I will return to FL in November, and will try to obtain a voucher specimen(s) for you. I assume you want a male and a female, although I do not know how to tell the males from the juvies in the cave. Advice?

[Buford]

Ian
Nice thoughts!

[JR-Orion]

Wasn't very far from the entrance, but this is the only time I've ever got red eye (white eye?) off a spider