Medium
Photo © Eric Bowman all rights reserved
santa cruz arboretum (Google, OSM)
36.9843830313, -122.0602488365
open
Jun. 09, 2012 14:24:35 -0700
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Comments & Identifications

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Spiders - Photo (c) Steve Smith, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
loarie's ID: Spiders (Order Araneae)
Posted by loarie about 1 year ago (Flag)
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'big butt spider' seems as good a name as any

Posted by charlie about 1 year ago (Flag)
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Spiders - Photo (c) Steve Smith, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
charlie's ID: Spiders (Order Araneae)
Posted by charlie about 1 year ago (Flag)
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could be... I just noticed the pill bug to the far left, that is one huge spider. I didn't know tarantulas extended that far north but they are definitely present (though rarely seen) in coastal areas of southern California. In the desert too, of course.

Posted by charlie about 1 year ago (Flag)
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This doesn't look hairy enough to be a true theraphosid. My guess is that it's a female Calisoga longitarsis, which is a sizable mygalomorph that's pretty common in the Bay Area. How big was it and where did you find it?

Posted by kueda about 1 year ago (Flag)
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Hi... the "butt" (abdomen?) was the size of a nickel and we saw it in Santa Cruz, in the UCSC Arboretum.

Posted by seathingie 12 months ago (Flag)
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False Tarantula - Photo (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
kueda's ID: False Tarantula (Calisoga longitarsis)

If it was that big then I think this is the one.

Posted by kueda 12 months ago (Flag)
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False Tarantula - Photo (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
barbarab's ID: False Tarantula (Calisoga longitarsis)
Posted by barbarab 8 months ago (Flag)
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I am really tempted to put 'big butt spider' as one of the common names for this species... but I resisted.

Posted by charlie 8 months ago (Flag)
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Thanks for resisting. There are many spiders with some junk in the trunk, so it's not the best common name.

Posted by kueda 8 months ago (Flag)
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good point, it doesn't give 'credit' to other copious-abdomened spiders.

Posted by charlie 8 months ago (Flag)
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Identification Summary

False Tarantula - Photo (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
kueda's ID: False Tarantula (Calisoga longitarsis)
barbarab agrees
Spiders - Photo (c) Steve Smith, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
loarie's ID: Spiders (Order Araneae)
charlie agrees
seathingie would like some help identifying this

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Data Quality Assessment

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Observation © Eric Bowman
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