Southwest Texas Expedition

I recently got back from a 6 day trip which went as far as Presidio and included 42 fruitful stops along the way. The main objective was to see what kind of lapidicina group spiders were out there. The Rio Grande along both Big Bend parks apparently hosts Pardosa sura. This isn't a well documented species in Texas as it was merged into P. sierra from 1959 to 2010. The original type specimens have been lost, so it's hard to tell if the original P. sura is really the same as the 2010 version. I'm basing my ID on it being where sura should be, not being any other species known to be there, and having some unique traits by which it can be recognized. It was the only lapidicina group species I found in the immediate area. It prefers beaches and bars made of river rocks. I found both males and females as well as juveniles. One female was huge suggesting an advanced age. She had a healthy bunch of spiderlings along for the ride. I doubt I've run across one that old before, and it was interesting to see she had acquired some typically male attributes including loss of leg banding, general darkening, and more pale hairs on her body. Unfortunately there are quite a few stands of giant reed along the river which crowd both the spiders and the fishermen into a shrinking area, so there probably aren't as many spiders on the Rio Grande as in the past. I made stops on the Frio and Pedernales Rivers on the way back and found lots of lapidicina group spiders. There appeared to be multiple species present, as well as some of the lesser Pardosa. It will take a while to work through all the photos. When I'm done, I'll upload the iNat observations.

Posted on 05 April, 2022 18:56 by eaneubauer