Mecaphesa lepida
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adult female, live |
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adult male, live |
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female genitalia; epigynum |
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male genitalia; palp, lateral view |
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male genitalia; palp, ventral view |
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grape size comparison with adult spiders; male (left), female (right) |
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spiderling, live |
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spiderlings, dead; dorsal (left), ventral (right) |
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egg sac |
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egg sac with scale (cm) |
Current valid name
Mecaphesa lepida (Thorell) (family Thomisidae)
Recognition and diagnostic features
Crab-like in body with front two pair of legs much longer than rear legs, pale in color.
Spider
Body lengths when mature: male: 3.0 mm, female: 5.0 mm
Immatures resemble miniature adults.
Egg sac
No egg or egg sac information is available for this species
Distribution
In California: throughout the state
Elsewhere: unknown
Native to North America
This species has not been transported or become established outside of its range.
Biology
Solitary, wandering spider. Very rare in grapes; its recording in the crop may be incidental.
Status in table grapes
Level of Incidence: extremely rare, possibly inadvertent find in grapes
Level of Concern in New Zealand: WPNZ (May 2010) nr, BORIC (Dec 2011) nr (not listed), MAF-BPRA (2002) nr (coding definition)
Level of Concern in Australia: WPAU (2006) nr (coding definition)
Level of Medical importance: none
Common name
None for species, crab spiders for family
Taxonomic history
This species is one of many that was known for decades in the genus Misumenops. However, in 2008, Eastern hemisphere arachnologists transferred many Western hemisphere species into the genus Mecaphesa, restricting the Misumenops genus solely for Old World species.
Commonly encountered synonyms
Misumenops lepidus
Selected references
Lehtinen, P. T., and Y. M. Marusik. 2008. A redefinition of Misumenops F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1900 (Araneae, Thomisidae) and review of the New World species. Bull. Brit. Arachnol. Soc. 14: 173-198.
Schick, R. X. 1965. The crab spiders of California (Araneida, Thomisidae). Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 129: 1-180.
