Brown spider. Hairy abdomen. Large pincers

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Plurraver Baton Rouge, LA Nov 13, 2013

Please help me identify this. Pretty worried. Thanks!

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Post #9708625
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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Nov 14, 2013

Although this superficially resembles a brown recluse male, I do not believe that it is one, as the pedipalps ('large pincers') are different, and the cephalothorax lacks the typical markings (see http://www.spiderzrule.com/411/brown_recluse_b_copy.jpg for an image of a male recluse spider). It might be a male sac spider of some sort (see http://www.suttonmass.org/animals/spiders/broadfacedsac/broadfacedsac1.jpg for an example).

Post #9708850
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BoxTurtle Woodbridge, VA Dec 26, 2013

Yes - I'd vote on it being a sac spider. I like the BugGuide web site: http://bugguide.net/node/view/20984/bgpage for providing an assortment of photos. The odd thing is the sheer Range of body style and color shown for the brown recluse, which is unfortunate since half of the time people see a spider they jump right to the "brown recluse" question so long as it's brown instead of black, and then of course they assume it's a widow... although there are brown widows, too... Both of the photos offered as examples by Flapdoodle are great choices for these specific photos offered by Plurraver.
Flapdoodle, do you think there is just a huge variance in the shy brown retreat's/ brown recluse's body style or is much of it due to camera angle? Half of the time it looks, even on supposedly reputable sites, like there are several completely different spider types being shown!
As someone who is fascinated by spiders, I'd really like to have more confidence over my s.b.r. identification. I'm good-enough-for-comfort with the rest...

Post #9734732
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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Dec 26, 2013

@Box Turtle - Variations in lighting (including intensity, wave length, and angle of incidence with the object being photographed) as well as the vestiture (hairs, setae, etc.) of the specimen itself can indeed result in images of the same species appearing quite different. Add to that the range in individual variation within the same species (dogs and humans, for example), and you can begin to appreciate the difficulties inherent to making a positive i.d. from a single image...

Post #9734746
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