My friend found this beauty (or beast) outsider her house on a tree limb and we have exhausted all research on defining what species of spider it is. Her characteristics especially when it comes to her egg sac are fitting of a Nursery Web spider; however, her eye pattern doesn't fit that of such. She also resembles a wolf spider but I can't seem to find a picture of a wolf spider of this color or pattern. Any help would be appreciated.
It looks a bit like a Nursery-web spider but I've never seen one so light colored. It appears to be carrying an eggsac, too. Wolf spiders carry their eggsacs farther back and their babies on their backs.
This looks to me like the White Fishing Spider (Dolomedes albineus). They are known to carry their egg sacs up front with their fangs. They are also known for their very light color above, especially on the cephalothorax.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/124628/bgimage
EDIT: the common name is often listed as "Whitebanded Fishing Spider"
This message was edited Aug 19, 2011 12:40 PM
Thanks to both of you! I was leaning more toward the Nursery Spider and she was leaning more toward the Fishing Spider, we just couldn't find one in either group of the same color, but after looking at the Whitebanded Fishing Spider, I would definitely agree that is what she is.
Bravo(Brava?), Flatpickit.
