Large spider on wall (Trechalea sp.), La Isla Escondida, Colombia

After a brutal yet very rewarding hike into La Isla Escondida by day, after some rest we continued with a brief night tour. First finding is this large brown spider on a wall.

comments (9)

Flown Kimmerling

Lion

Gorgeous! Some sort of nursery web spider (Pisauridae)? I'm definitely not great with arachnids, but the body shape looks like members of that family. Posted 6 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  That looks right to me, thanks Lisa!
  I also struggle with spiders a lot. In my home country the diversity is small enough to try and ID them, in the tropics however... Posted 6 years ago

NattyOne

Lion

Hi Ferdy, I have the same unidentified spider - I'll put it on Posted 5 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Great, thanks! I commonly find such spiders in the open, in particular at night, in jungles. Posted 5 years ago
2. 1. NattyOne
    
    Lion
    
    I think it may be Trechalea gertschi - banded legs, spiracles, fangs etc. Posted 5 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      Thanks! I think you are almost certainly right about genus Trechalea. As for the species Trechalea gertschi, it does have a lot of convincing similarities, yet I still have some insecurities.
      
      First, it seems mostly a US species. I only found a single observation outside the US, in Venezuela. Second, the genus seems to have a lot of similar looking species, that make me wonder how certain we can be that this is gertschi. Examples from the genus, found in Colombia:
      https://colombia.inaturalist.org/taxa/142644-Trechalea/browse_photos
      
      Note T. connexa and T. extensa, looking pretty similar.
      
      Tough one... Posted 5 years ago
    2. 1. NattyOne
        
        Lion
        
        https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/142644-Trechalea - I followed a link to this which describes the spider as gertschi but when you follow just has the genus but goes into Colombia & down through Brazil - as you say - tough & we're not experts - I'll see if Marcel, my guide has an idea next time I message him Posted 5 years ago
      2. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Even having the genus only is still very useful, so updated the title and tags, that way it can still be found when searching for it. Posted 5 years ago
        
        NattyOne
        
        Lion
        
        Yes of course - cheers ;¬) Posted 5 years ago

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