The Nearctic Spider Database, http://www.canadianarachnology.org/data/spiders/31860

Xysticus cunctator Thorell, 1877

FAMILY: THOMISIDAE Sundevall, 1833
    Genus: Xysticus C. L. Koch, 1835
        Species: Xysticus cunctator Thorell, 1877

Author of this page: Hancock, John (Page complete and awaiting review)

General Comments: This species has been collected in Arizona, northward to southern British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan

Common Names

Family Common Name:  crab spiders
Genus Common Name:  ground crab spiders
Species Common Name:  none

Distribution

Global Distribution: USA, Canada
Nearctic States & Provinces:   AB YT CO MT WA WY
Collection Locales Mapped by Year Collected: 

Natural History, Phenology & Image(s)

Feeding Guild:‡  ambushers
‡Feeding guild when noted defined by Uetz, G. W., J. Halaj, and A. B. Cady. 1999. Guild structure of spiders in major crops. Journal of Arachnology 27:270-280.
Recorded Habitats:  Specimens have been collected under logs in urban/rural settings. For example, a male was collected from his spun retreat alongside a subadult female and her retreat under a split log. This was in a town dwelling in a woodshed (Hancock, pers. obs.).
Life & Natural History:  (not yet recorded or unknown)

Seasonality of Specimen Records:


Image(s) of Habitus:


Credit: Slowik, Joey


Credit: Hancock, John

Details About Males

Description:  Carapace a light red brown mottled brown and off-white, with a pale median area which has a small dark triangle anterior to dorsal grove. Legs mottled brown and off-white. Dorsum of abdomen with paired brown areas separated by off-white median band and transverse lines. Note the hooked apical sclerite on the embolus. (Dondale & Redner, 1978).

Male Dimensions:

A+B = 4.5 mm  A = 2.22 mm  C = 2.15 mm 

Image of External Male Genitalia:


Credit: Hancock, John

Details About Females

Description:  Similar to male but much paler (Dondale & Redner, 1978)

Female Dimensions:

A+B = 6 mm  A = 2.61 mm  C = 2.56 mm 

Image of Epigynum:


Credit: Slowik, Joey

Descriptions Source:
Dondale, C. D. & J. H. Redner. 1978. The insects and arachnids of Canada, Part 5. The crab spiders of Canada and Alaska, Araneae: Philodromidae and Thomisidae. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Publ. 1663: 1-255.

Synonyms and Chresonyms†

Xysticus cunctator Thorell 1877
Xysticus lenis Keyserling 1880
Xysticus quinquepunctatus Keyserling 1880
Xysticus cunctator nigrescens Cockerell 1890
Xysticus cunctator pallidus Cockerell 1890
Xysticus nervosus Chamberlin & Gertsch 1928
Xysticus ancistrophor Chamberlin & Gertsch 1929
Xysticus cunctator Gertsch 1939
Xysticus nervosus Comstock 1940
Xysticus cunctator Schick 1965
Xysticus cunctator Turnbull, Dondale & Redner 1965
Xysticus cunctator Dondale & Redner 1978

Taxonomic References†

Chamberlin, R. V. & W. J. Gertsch. 1929. New spiders from Utah and California. Jour. Ent. Zool. Claremont 21: 101-112.

Chamberlin, R. V. & W. J. Gertsch. 1928. Notes on spiders from southeastern Utah. Proc. biol. Soc. Wash. 41: 175-188.

Cockerell, T. D. A. 1890. Xysticus v. Pterostichus. Ent. Monthly Mag. 26: 191.

Comstock, J. H. 1940. The spider book, revised and edited by W. J. Gertsch. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, xi + 727 pp.

Dondale, C. D. & J. H. Redner. 1978. The insects and arachnids of Canada, Part 5. The crab spiders of Canada and Alaska, Araneae: Philodromidae and Thomisidae. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Publ. 1663: 1-255.

Gertsch, W. J. 1939. A revision of the typical crab spiders (Misumeninae) of America north of Mexico. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 76: 277-442.

Gertsch, W. J. 1934. Notes on American crab spiders (Thomisidae). Amer. Mus. Novit. 707: 1-25.

Keyserling, E. 1880. Die Spinnen Amerikas, I. Laterigradae. Nürnberg, 1: 1-283.

Schick, R. X. 1965. The crab spiders of California (Araneae, Thomisidae). Bull. Am. Mus. nat. Hist. 129: 1-180.

Thorell, T. 1877. Descriptions of the Araneae collected in Colorado in 1875, by A. S. Packard jun., M.D. Bull. U. S. geol. Surv. 3: 477-529.

Turnbull, A. L., C. D. Dondale & J. H. Redner. 1965. The spider genus Xysticus C. L. Koch (Araneae: Thomisidae) in Canada. Can. Ent. 97: 1233-1280.

†Nomenclature and taxonomic references from the World Spider Catalog accessible at http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/THOMISIDAE.html

Other Nearctic Members of Genus Xysticus C. L. Koch, 1835‡‡

X. acquiescens Emerton, 1919 ...............Holarctic
X. alboniger Turnbull, Dondale & Redner, 1965 ...............USA, Canada
X. ampullatus Turnbull, Dondale & Redner, 1965 ...............USA, Canada
X. apachecus Gertsch, 1933 ...............USA
X. apalacheus Gertsch, 1953 ...............USA
X. aprilinus Bryant, 1930 ...............USA
X. auctificus Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA, Canada
X. audax (Schrank, 1803) ...............Palearctic
X. banksi Bryant, 1933 ...............USA
X. benefactor Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA, Canada
X. bicuspis Keyserling, 1887 ...............USA
X. bifasciatus C. L. Koch, 1837 ...............Palearctic
X. bonneti Denis, 1938 ...............Palearctic
X. britcheri Gertsch, 1934 ...............Russia, Alaska, Canada, USA
X. californicus Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA
X. canadensis Gertsch, 1934 ...............Russia, USA, Canada
X. chaparralis Schick, 1965 ...............USA
X. chippewa Gertsch, 1953 ...............Holarctic
X. cochise Gertsch, 1953 ...............USA
X. coloradensis Bryant, 1930 ...............USA
X. concursus Gertsch, 1934 ...............USA
X. cristatus (Clerck, 1757) ...............Palearctic
X. deichmanni Sorensen, 1898 ...............Canada, Alaska, Greenland
X. discursans Keyserling, 1880 ...............North America
X. durus (Sorensen, 1898) ...............USA, Canada, Greenland
X. elegans Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA, Canada, Alaska
X. ellipticus Turnbull, Dondale & Redner, 1965 ...............USA, Canada
X. emertoni Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA, Canada, Alaska, Slovakia to China
X. facetus O. P.-Cambridge, 1896 ...............Mexico to El Salvador
X. ferox (Hentz, 1847) ...............USA, Canada
X. ferrugineus Menge, 1876 ...............Palearctic
X. fervidus Gerstch, 1953 ...............USA, Canada
X. flavovittatus Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA
X. floridanus Banks, 1896 ...............USA
X. fraternus Banks, 1895 ...............USA, Canada
X. funestus Keyserling, 1880 ...............North America
X. furtivus Gertsch, 1936 ...............USA
X. gallicus Simon, 1875 ...............Palearctic
X. gertschi Schick, 1965 ...............North America
X. gosiutus Gertsch, 1932 ...............USA, Canada
X. gulosus Keyserling, 1880 ...............North America
X. humilis Redner & Dondale, 1965 ...............USA
X. imitarius Gertsch, 1953 ...............USA
X. indiligens (Walckenaer, 1837) ...............USA
X. iviei Schick, 1965 ...............USA
X. iviei sierrensis Schick, 1965 ...............USA
X. keyserlingi Bryant, 1930 ...............USA, Canada
X. labradorensis Keyserling, 1887 ...............Holarctic
X. lanio C. L. Koch, 1835 ...............Palearctic
X. lassanus Chamberlin, 1925 ...............USA, Mexico
X. laticeps Bryant, 1933 ...............USA, Cuba
X. lineatus (Westring, 1851) ...............Palearctic
X. locuples Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA, Canada
X. luctans (C. L. Koch, 1845) ...............USA, Canada
X. luctator L. Koch, 1870 ...............Palearctic
X. luctuosus (Blackwall, 1836) ...............Holarctic
X. lutzi Gertsch, 1935 ...............USA, Mexico
X. montanensis Keyserling, 1887 ...............USA, Canada, Alaska
X. nevadensis (Keyserling, 1880) ...............USA
X. nigromaculatus Keyserling, 1884 ...............USA, Canada
X. ninnii Thorell, 1872 ...............Palearctic
X. obscurus Collett, 1877 ...............Holarctic
X. ocala Gertsch, 1953 ...............USA
X. ontariensis Emerton, 1919 ...............Canada
X. orizaba Banks, 1898 ...............Mexico
X. paiutus Gertsch, 1933 ...............USA, Mexico
X. pearcei Schick, 1965 ...............USA
X. pellax O. P.-Cambridge, 1894 ...............North America
X. peninsulanus Gertsch, 1934 ...............USA
X. posti Sauer, 1968 ...............USA
X. pretiosus Gertsch, 1934 ...............USA, Canada
X. punctatus Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA, Canada
X. robinsoni Gertsch, 1953 ...............USA, Mexico
X. rockefelleri Gertsch, 1953 ...............Mexico
X. rugosus Buckle & Redner, 1964 ...............Russia, Canada, USA
X. sabulosus (Hahn, 1832) ...............Palearctic
X. sphericus (Walckenaer, 1837) ...............USA
X. striatipes L. Koch, 1870 ...............Palearctic
X. tampa Gertsch, 1953 ...............USA
X. texanus Banks, 1904 ...............USA, Mexico
X. triangulosus Emerton, 1894 ...............USA, Canada, Alaska
X. triguttatus Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA, Canada
X. ulmi (Hahn, 1831) ...............Palearctic
X. variabilis Keyserling, 1880 ...............USA
X. viduus Kulczynski, 1898 ...............Palearctic
X. winnipegensis Turnbull, Dondale & Redner, 1965 ...............Canada

‡‡May also include species with Palearctic distribution

Page Reference:

Hancock, John. submitted. Taxonomic and natural history description of FAM: THOMISIDAE, Xysticus cunctator Thorell, 1877. In: The Nearctic Spider Database. David P. Shorthouse (editor). World Wide Web electronic publication. Direct link: http://www.canadianarachnology.org/data/spiders/31860 (Accessed: 10/7/2008 5:23:18 PM).

Author Email Address: spidermanjohn@shaw.ca
Text Last Modified: 2006-02-12T15:53:20Z