Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Spider: Enoplognatha ?
Posted by Iolaire on 24-06-2008 12:29
#1
Hello,
These 2 are what you might say common in my garden. I asume they are female and male
Enoplognatha sp.. Can anyone give them a full ID?
Thank you.
Posted by Smoggycb on 24-06-2008 18:38
#2
Certainly looks like
Enoplognatha, and in northern Europe I would say probably
E. ovata, but there is at least one very similar species which needs examination of the palps or epigyne for id.
Posted by Dima DD on 24-06-2008 20:37
#4
E. ovata is the most popular European species of this genus in the Internet! :) I've tried to find phrase "Enoplognatha ..." for all 23 species by the Google search ("text mode", not pictures) and obtained this nice logarithmic diagram. An interesting question: do this curve reflect natural abundances of species, at least roughly?
Posted by Iolaire on 25-06-2008 00:14
#5
Thank you all for your reactions and suggestions. I figured it could only be
E. ovata or
E. latimana, which indeed are very similar to eachother. I only hoped someone could tell me that the ones on my pictures are
E. latimana instead of the much more common
E. ovata... I suppose I have to kill one to be sure...:(
Edited by Iolaire on 25-06-2008 00:15
Posted by Juergen Peters on 25-06-2008 00:42
#6
Hello!
Iolaire wrote:
only be E. ovata or E. latimana, which indeed are very similar to eachother. I only hoped someone could tell me that the ones on my pictures are E. latimana instead of the much more common E. ovata...
E. latimana is also rather common (and cannot be separated from
ovata by a photo). I think, there are so many pics titled "Enoplognatha ovata" on the net only because most people don't know, that there is a similar species (like it is the case with
Araniella cucurbitina; you will find an overwhelming number of pics called
A. cucurbitina, but
A. opistographa is about as abundant as
cucurbitina (and there are some other, rarer species)).
Posted by Iolaire on 25-06-2008 21:17
#7
Thanx J?rgen! I rest my case.;)
Enoplognatha sp it'll be.
Posted by Dima DD on 26-06-2008 04:04
#8
Enoplognatha sp is OK... Moreover, it seems that we should write
Genus sp. for the most of images... However, in the case of pure text report (e.g. list without images)
Enoplognatha sp refers to any of 23 species, while it can be only 2(-3) of them. This is a common problem: how to give a narrower list of possible species? A better solution is to write
Enoplognatha cf. ovata :)
Edited by Dima DD on 26-06-2008 04:06
Posted by Iolaire on 29-06-2008 01:00
#9
I agree Dima,
Enoplognatha cf. ovata is the better option. But then again, so is
Enoplognatha cf. latimana. ;)