Richard A. Bradley - Common Spiders of North America

My introduction to spider biology began over 30 years ago with a course taught by Donald Lowrie while I was in graduate school at the University of New Mexico. He ignited in me a fascination for these little animals, above and beyond mere identification. Herbert and Lorna Levi produced a wonderful guide to terrestrial invertebrates in 1968; it was focused on spiders and is still widely used today. The genesis of the current book was the demand for a more complete guide to the common spiders of North America. The purpose of this volume is to foster an appreciation of spiders. Familiarity with these small predators will enrich your life and open a door to a miniature world of wonder.

This book could never have been completed without assistance from many people. I thank Bruce Leech and Susan Ward for many years of their help navigating the spider literature. I thank Lynda Behan and Robin Taylor for their patient help with editing and revision. Their advice and suggestions substantially improved the work. Photographs were provided by Todd Blackledge (). All other photographs are my own.

I thank illustrator Steve Buchanan for his willingness to collaborate on this project. He translated my suggestions, through many cycles of revision, into accurate and beautiful illustrations. It was a great joy to work with him over the past three years. I thank Herb Levi for reading early drafts of the manuscript and providing helpful suggestions. Gail Stratton read the entire wolf spider text and provided suggestions, corrections, and enthusiastic support. Allen Brady generously shared his knowledge of wolf spiders. Michael Draney read the material on sheet weavers, reviewed the sheet weaver illustrations, and made helpful suggestions. I thank Rod Crawford for sharing his extensive knowledge of the Linyphiidae as well as his help with information about other spiders of the Western states. Lenny Vincent provided access to his extensive library of reference photographs and his knowledge of spider fauna in the Southwest.

Bruce Cutler read the jumping spider accounts and provided a number of corrections and helpful suggestions. G. B. Edwards shared his extensive knowledge, access to his database, arranged loans of material, reviewed the jumping spider illustrations, and provided many helpful corrections. Mark Stowe shared his expertise on orb-weaving spiders in particular, the bolas spiders. He also edited and revised the section on these fascinating animals. Rick Vetter shared his knowledge of the interactions between spiders and people. He also edited the sections on spider bites, Latrodectus, and Loxosceles. Allen Dean generously provided unpublished information about the biology and distribution of many species. Joel Ledford cheerfully shared his knowledge of many spiders, particularly the leptonetids and telemids. Mark Harvey, Victor Fet, Lorenzo Prendini, and Bill Shear shared their knowledge of arachnid biodiversity for the estimates in the table.

I gratefully acknowledge the many suggestions (unsigned) regarding the identification chapter from arachnology volunteers working with Paula Cushing at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Many of my arachnological colleagues and other naturalists reviewed sections of text and draft illustrations and gave generously of their time and expertise. These included Lina Almeida, Joe Beatty, Robb Bennett, David Bixler, Todd Blackledge, Jason Bond, Joanne Bovee, Sandra Brantley, Don Buckle, Karen Cangialosi, Don Cameron, Jim Carrel, Jon Coddington, Fred Coyle, Sarah Crews, Charles Dondale, Nadine Duprr, Rosemary Gillespie, Hank Guarisco, Marshal Hedin, Maggie Hodge, Gustavo Hormiga, Bernhard Huber, Beth Jakob, Dan Jennings, Thomas Jones, Kenn Kaufman, Kim Kaufman, Sara Klips, Robin Leech, Steve Lew, Wayne Maddison, Sam Marshall, Yuri Marusik, Pat Miller, Frances Murphy, Brent Opell, Pierre Paquin, Matt Persons, Kevin Pfeiffer, Norm Platnick, Tom Prentice, Jon Reiskind, David Richman, Michael Roberts, Nina Sandlin, Jeff Shultz, Derek Sikes, Joey Slowik, Ryan Stork, Tamas Szuts, Darrell Ubick, George Uetz, and Dustin Wilgers. They enriched this book and provided many suggestions and corrections. Any remaining errors are mine alone.

I thank Joe Warfel for congenial companionship in the field and his expert advice on photography. I thank Bill Hickman for his hard work and enthusiasm on a variety of spider projects over the years, but particularly for his constant sunny disposition. I thank the following curators for sharing their expertise as well as providing access to specimens under their care: Jon Coddington (United States National Museum), Rod Crawford (University of Washington Burke Museum), Paula Cushing (Denver Museum of Nature and Science), Allen Dean (Texas A&M University Insect Collection), G. B. Edwards (Florida Collection of Arthropods), Charles Griswold (California Academy of Sciences Entomology), Janet Kempf (National History Museum of Los Angeles County), Hans Klompen (Ohio State Acarology Laboratory), Laura Leibensperger and Herbert Levi (both at Museum of Comparative Zoology), and Pat Miller (Mississippi Entomological Musuem). I am indebted to the American Arachnological Society for their encouragement and financial support especially to Paula Cushing, who was instrumental in promoting this project during her tenure as president. Special thanks are due to an anonymous arachnophile whose generous donation supported the production of the color plates.

Most of all, I am grateful to Amy Tovar, without whose loving support this book would never have been completed.

For a printable scale showing relative sizes of spiders, download a PDF from www.ucpress.edu/go/commonspiders.

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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England

2013 by The Regents of the University of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bradley, Richard Alan.

Common spiders of North America / Richard A. Bradley ; illustrations by Steve Buchanan ; sponsored by the American Arachnological Society.

p.cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-520-27488-4 (cloth : alk. paper)

eISBN 978-0-520-95450-2

1. SpidersNorth AmericaIdentification. I. Buchanan, Steve. II. American Arachnological Society. III. Title.

QL458.41.A1B73 2013

595.4'8097dc23 2012018390

Manufactured in China

19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 2002) (Permanence of Paper).

Cover illustration: Steve Buchanan.

TO MY PARENTS, MARJORIE AND WESLEY BRADLEY,
FOR FOSTERING A DEEP RESPECT AND CURIOSITY ABOUT
THE NATURAL WORLD,

AND MY BROTHER, DAVE,
FOR SHARING MANY JOYFUL HOURS
EXPLORING AND CELEBRATING WILD PLACES.

COMMON SPIDERS OF NORTH AMERICA