Long Legged Fishing Spider

by

Subject:  Details on this scary spider!
Geographic location of the bug:  Sabino Canyon seasonal pool
Date: 11/04/2017
Time: 01:36 AM EDT
I found this spider FISHING for chub in Sabino Canyon, in a seasonal pool. Date – October 30, 2017 at about 3:00 in the afternoon. Outside air temp was warm, about 88 degrees. At first I thought the spider was trapped on the water, but no, it was clearly able to move on top of and stay above the water. It would dip it’s mandibles in and tap-tap-tap the water, I suspect to draw the fish, and it did bring them close. Either that or it’s size, about half the size of my adult male hand, so it cast a shadow. Any details would be appreciated!
How you want your letter signed:  Rob Bremmer

Long Legged Fishing Spider

Dear Rob,
We have a very old posting in our archives of the Long Legged Fishing Spider, Trechalea gertschi from the family Trechaleidae that was also sighted in Sabino Canyon, and we believe that is also the species to which your individual belongs.  Since the time the images were submitted to our site, there have been additional postings to BugGuide.  We are curious about your definition of a “seasonal pool” because we don’t know of any fish other than some Killifish that lay eggs in the mud of ponds that dry out, the eggs hatching with the next rainy season.

​Hi Daniel,
By seasonal, I mean that it is part of flowing and running water when wet season allows, and isolated shrinking warm pools as heat of summer evaporates the water. I heard from the rangers that they re-stocked the chub fish because they had died out, and now, apparently, they are able to make it through a full rainy / dry season.​
Thanks for the clarification Rob.
Have you ever seen a photo of a spider fishing like that? It’s a first for me and I’m thrilled to have caught it! Wish I could have lingered all day to see how it played out but the sun was past noon and we still had to hike out.
Rob Bremmer
Yes we have.  We sent you a link to a Long Legged Fishing Spider from our archives.  That predates any postings for the species on BugGuide.  Your submission is our second documentation of this interesting Long Legged Fishing Spider that resembles a Flattie more than it does a traditional Fishing Spider in the genus Dolomedes.

 

Leave a Comment