Very large spider (34mm) in acrylic => Macrothele sp.

[Frits Broekhuis]

I bought another spider preserved in acrylic during a visit to Phoenix, Arizona. It's quite large, KL = 34mm. It has a striking silvery appearance. Obviously, I did some googling and I leafed through my copy of 'Spider families of the world', but I couldn't find a good match; Nemesiidae was my best bet. I would very much appreciate any remarks leading to the family it belongs to, and possibly even the genus. I have no idea where the spider came from (probably not from the US ;-)

[Simeon Indzhov]

This is something for Bastian, but maybe Dipluridae?
Simeon

[Frits Broekhuis]

Hi Simeon,

I agree dipluridae spiders resemble this one. I discarded the family based on the maximum length though. According to the Dippenaar-Schoeman book, the largest dipluridae species are about 22mm long...

[Michael Hohner]

The silvery appearance is probably just a result of the inclusion method (air gap).

[Frits Broekhuis]

The silvery appearance is probably just a result of the inclusion method (air gap).

I considered that possibility and discarded it at first, but perhaps you're right, Michael. Looking at the edges of the silvery part, it didn't really look like air pockets to me. At the store where I bought it, they sold lots of different kinds of spiders in acrylic. This was the only one of the species, and also the only silvery looking one. My simple conclusion was that air pockets in acrylic don't seem to be a regularly occurring problem, but I could very well be wrong..

[Tobias Bauer]

Maybe have a look into the Antrodiaetidae. I'm absolutely no expert, but Megahexura has similar proportions (and has its own family now), although it's much smaller and does have slightly different spinnerets (after Bradley, Common Spiders of North America). But there are more North American species of the family. However, like you wrote, there is still the chance that this is an exotic species from pet breeding. I think in this case an ID is nearly impossible.

That's a North American checklist: http://www.americanarachnology.org/northamericanspiders.html

Tobias

[Bastian Drolshagen]

Hi,
looks like some diplurid, or Macrothele to me. Is it possible to get a close-up of the labium? If there are many cuspules, it's a Macrothele.
Note that Dipluridae have been restricted to Masteriinae and Diplurinae. It's likely that the family needs to be restricted to Diplurinae only and, considering the size of the specimen, only those might match.

EDIT: Just noticed tarsal spines on Ta III, so this should have labial cuspules, to then securely indicate Macrothele sp.

[Siegfried Huber]

Hi everybody,
I agree in Macrothele, and would think about Macrothele gigas from Taiwan: this species was distributed through pet trade due to its large size. I saw this species during the Kenting Congress some years ago: it is really impressive! And it is protected nowadays!
Siegfried

[Frits Broekhuis]

Hi,
looks like some diplurid, or Macrothele to me. Is it possible to get a close-up of the labium? If there are many cuspules, it's a Macrothele.
Note that Dipluridae have been restricted to Masteriinae and Diplurinae. It's likely that the family needs to be restricted to Diplurinae only and, considering the size of the specimen, only those might match.

EDIT: Just noticed tarsal spines on Ta III, so this should have labial cuspules, to then securely indicate Macrothele sp.

Thanks, Bastian! I had tot google about those cuspules, but I made some pictures through my microscope, and indeed, the labium is covered with short stumps (see labium_closeup picture), are those indeed the cuspules?
I also included some other pictures, hoping they might be useful for identification.

Also thank you Siegfried and Tobias, for your feedback!

[Bastian Drolshagen]

Hi Frits,
yes, these are the cuspules I was talking about - confirmed Macrothele.

[Frits Broekhuis]

Thanks, Bastian!

[Bastian Drolshagen]

you're welcome