this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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What is this thing?

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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by synae to c/whatisthisthing@lemmy.world
 

About 1.5 to 2 inches across. Found in Santa Cruz, CA

Edit: Thanks all for your responses!

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[–] njaard@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] Drummyralf@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, thought this too. Identified a similair looking spider with an app once.

Big nope vibes.

[–] tobogganablaze@lemmus.org 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The bite like wolfies? Because I had one hit me like when bee sting when I scared her up.

[–] tobogganablaze@lemmus.org 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, probably. A bee sting is a pretty good comparison for spider bites in general, though with a very low chance of alergic reaction compared to bees or wasps. And that's really where the danger is.

Otherwise it will just hurt for a bit and then go away.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Bees hurt way worse than these IMO. But I'm possibly mildly allergic to bees.

[–] synae 7 points 10 months ago

Thanks, that was my assumption as well from some minor googling but wanted to get another pair (or 3) of eyes on it

[–] tobogganablaze@lemmus.org 24 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I just got a reply back from a buddy that is an actual publish arachnologist and he confirms it's Zoropsidae (the false wolf spiders, and the family including the widley suggested Titiotus).

[–] synae 8 points 10 months ago

Thanks, I also thought it was a wolf or false wolf as well from some minor googling. I appreciate you reaching out to your friend for the expert opinion!

[–] Sendpicsofsandwiches@sh.itjust.works 11 points 10 months ago (3 children)
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[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

Thanks for sharing this! I quite enjoyed it.

The choice to

show spoilermuffle the microphone when the spider covered its head with sand

was a brilliant touch.

P.S. I wish Lemmy supported >!inline spoilers!<. The current spoiler markdown is pretty clunky.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Ha! I thought it was on a paper towel or something until it actually moved the sand at the end.

[–] nickwitha_k 10 points 10 months ago

Looks like a wolf or false wolf spider. Good spiderbro.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Arthropods aren't my forte, and its hard to judge without a sense of scale and/or a look at the eye layout. So someone more knowledgeable should correct me. That said, it I looks to me like a Titiotus. Various species of which call California home.

[–] synae 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Thanks, I didn't realize how varied eye layouts were in spiders otherwise I would have tried for a better pic from another angle. Hoped the rough size estimate would be sufficent but I understand how a picture with a banana (or similar) for scale would be more helpful. Appreciate the response and it seems the crowd has spoken -- false wolf spider! (or perhaps regular wolf spider but either way is good enough for me)

[–] tobogganablaze@lemmus.org 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

or perhaps regular wolf spider

Nope, easily exluded by what you can see in the pictures, by the eyes. The entire cephalothorax region is wrong for a wolf spider. I was first stuck on Gnaphosidae.

And your picture was brilliant. You won't believe the shitty pictures some people expect you to give an ID from. And you gave a proper size (though we prefere body lenght over leg span and centimetres) and a location.

This post was perfect. Even got the "oh a brown spider, must be a brown recluse" comment ...

Join !spiders@lemmy.world maybe?

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 10 months ago

Your size description was good, I'm just terrible at imagining sizes well. But I get why getting it to stand next to a coin or something for scale was not an option. I love spiders, but they don't take direction.

[–] tobogganablaze@lemmus.org 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

My best guess so far would be Titiotus sp., one of the false wolf spiders.

[–] synae 2 points 10 months ago

Thank you! I thought probably wolf at first and only learned about the existence of false-wolf when googling.

[–] ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 months ago

Don't have an answer, but hope things are going well. I miss living there.