Striped Bark Crab Spider
S1, male, ventral
Similar Bark Crab Spider
Female, profile
| Striped Bark Crab Spider S1, male, ventral | | Similar Bark Crab Spider Female, profile | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Spiders, Scorpions, Mites & Ticks (Arachnida) | |||
| Order: | Spiders (Araneae) | ||||
| Family: | Crab Spider (Thomisidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Similar Bark Crab Spider (Isala similis) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍Female, dorsal🔎 | ||||
| Synonym: | Stephanopis similis | ||||
Thank you Suzanne and Jim for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere ~7mm body length of the female we found. This is smaller than the 9-10mm she should be. However her abdomen does seem shrivelled; indicating she's just laid eggs &/or is hungry. The name indicates it's similar to Stephanopis cambridgei. Superficially this doesn't apprear so as S. cambridgei is covered in scaly hairs that hide it's underlying exoskeleton markings. Note the furrows on the outside of all her legs; top to bottom. As other Stephanopis seem to have. This species stands out for having smooth front legs. Suzie & Jim said "One of the diagnostics of similis is that pair of black bars running medial in the carapace. Notice how they merge about halfway down. This is how it can be separated from cambridgei. The name similis was given to it due to its resemblance to cambridgei where one of the main diagnostics is the two medial black bars on the carapace." | |||||
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