In these spiders there is less difference in length between the front
and hind legs than in Misumena or Xysticus. The legs are long and
slender, the second pair longest, and the body is small and flat, and
the abdomen pointed behind. The colors are brown and gray, and the whole
body is often covered with fine flattened hairs that in the males are
iridescent. _Philodromus vulgaris_ lives usually on houses and fences,
but the other species on plants.
[Illustration: FIGS. 101, 102, 103, 104. Philodromus vulgaris.--101,
male. 102, female. Both enlarged four times. 103, tibia of the male
palpus. 104, one of the feet.]
$Philodromus vulgaris.$--About quarter of an inch long, the legs of the
female spreading over an inch and those of the male an inch and a
quarter (figs. 101, 102). They often stand with all the legs extended
sidewise, flat against a wall or fence which they closely resemble in
color. When freshly molted they are covered with fine gray hairs of the
color of weathered boards, that obscure most of the markings. Older
spiders or those wet with alcohol are covered with small gray spots
forming a stripe in the middle of the front of the abdomen and a
herringbone pattern on the hinder half. The edges of the back of the
abdomen are dark and form a sharp line against the light color of the
under surface. The thorax is darker in the middle and at the sides in
irregular spots of gray. The legs are spotted and darker toward the ends
of the joints. The under side of body and legs is light colored.
[Illustration: FIG. 105. Philodromus ornatus.--Female enlarged six
times.]
$Philodromus ornatus.$--This is a small species about one-eighth of an
inch long. The female is very distinctly marked with dark brown on a
white ground (fig. 105). The middle of the thorax is white and the sides
brown nearly to the edge. The abdomen is white, with a distinct brown
band on each side from the front more than half its length backward.
Sometimes there is also an indistinct brownish pattern in the middle,
but this is usually absent in adults, and the middle is entirely white.
Under the abdomen the lateral brown bands extend backward and meet
around the spinnerets. The abdomen is wider than in most
species,--nearly as wide as it is long across the hinder half. The male
is very differently colored. The legs and thorax are orange brown,
darker at the sides of the thorax and toward the ends of the legs. The
abdomen is darker brown and strongly iridescent with red and green in a
bright light. In alcohol it shows indistinctly the same markings as the
female. The legs are longer and the abdomen narrower, as in males of
other species.
[Illustration: FIGS. 106, 107. Philodromus lineatus.--106, female. 107,
male. Both enlarged six times.]
$Philodromus lineatus.$--The female of this species is a little larger
than _ornatus_, the brown markings are lighter, and, in life or when
freshly killed, purplish in the lighter parts. The markings are less
distinct than in _ornatus_, the brown and white running into each other.
The abdomen has a brown band each side, often broken into several spots,
and a brown band in the middle extending back half its length, behind
which are several lighter marks (figs. 106, 107). Between these are
several oblique lighter markings and rows of spots. The legs are light
gray, darker toward the ends of the joints.
[Illustration: FIGS. 108, 109, 110. Philodromus pictus.--110, adult
female. 109, male without the legs. 108, markings of the abdomen of a
young female. All enlarged six times.]
$Philodromus pictus.$--Female about one-fifth of an inch long, the
abdomen nearly twice as long as the thorax, with the widest part across
the middle farther forward than in most species (fig. 110). Legs and
palpi pale yellow with fine brown spots. Thorax light yellow in the
middle and reddish brown at the sides, covered with fine spots. Abdomen
dull red at the sides and bright yellow in the middle, with a dark mark
in the middle of the front half and two dark marks behind it on the
hinder half. The eyes are surrounded by distinct light rings. In some
specimens, usually immature, the abdomen has a more distinct yellow and
red pattern (fig. 108). The male (fig. 109) has the thorax and legs
darker and the abdomen less bright red and yellow than the female,
sometimes gray and iridescent.
[Illustration: FIG. 111. Ebo latithorax, enlarged twelve times.]
$Ebo latithorax.$--In color and general appearance this resembles
Philodromus, but is at once distinguished by the length Of the second
legs, which are more than twice as long as any of the others (fig. 111).
The thorax is wider than long, and the abdomen is wider than in
Philodromus. The head is narrow and rounded in front. The front middle
eyes are largest and farthest forward. The colors are gray and white,
with black spots in the darker parts, as in Philodromus. The length is
not much over an eighth of an inch and the length of the longest legs
quarter of an inch.
[Illustration: FIGS. 112, 113. Tmarus caudatus.--112, female enlarged
six times. 113, left side of the abdomen.]
$Tmarus caudatus.$--This spider is about as large as _Philodromus
vulgaris_ and similarly colored, but may be distinguished from it by the
height of its abdomen and the short tail or projection over the
spinnerets (fig. 113). The thorax is round at the sides and square in
front, and the mandibles are inclined forward so that they can be seen
from above. The two rows of eyes are farther apart than in Philodromus,
and the lateral eyes of both rows are raised on tubercles. Among the
eyes are several black spots that may be mistaken for extra eyes, and
there are similar spots on the legs, most thickly on the front pairs. On
the back of the thorax are radiating white lines. The abdomen is light
in front and marked behind with two or three pairs of indistinct
transverse lines (fig. 112). On the under side the whole body and legs
are pale, without spots except a wide middle band of gray under the
abdomen. The third and fourth legs are shorter than the first and
second, the difference being greater than in Philodromus and less than
in Misumena.
$Tibellus duttonii.$--This is a very common spider on bushes and grass.
The body is slender, from a third to half an inch long, and a tenth of
an inch wide (fig. 115). The thorax is an eighth of an inch long, widest
across the hinder half and narrowed toward the front, where it is cut
off nearly straight over the mandibles. Both rows of eyes are strongly
curved (fig. 116). The hinder row is twice as long as the front row and
all the eyes larger. The abdomen is straight at the sides and a little
pointed behind. The color is light gray or yellow, with a darker gray
line in the middle, divided into two toward the eyes. At the sides of
the thorax are other longitudinal lines. On the abdomen, one-third its
length from the hinder end, is a pair of small round or oval black
spots. The legs are light gray, with no markings except a few black
hairs.
[Illustration: FIGS. 114, 115, 116. Tibellus duttonii.--115, female
enlarged four times. 114, one of the feet. 116, front of head, showing
eyes and mandibles.]
[Illustration: FIG. 117. Thanatus coloradensis, enlarged four times.]
$Thanatus coloradensis$ or $lycosoides.$--In color and general
appearance this resembles Philodromus, but is not as flat, and the legs
are not as long and slender. The general color is light gray, with a
distinct wide light stripe in the middle of the thorax, and a dark brown
pointed stripe with white edges in the middle of the front half of the
abdomen (fig. 117). The head is a little longer and higher than in most
Thomisidæ, and the abdomen is a little longer and not so much widened
behind. The eyes are much as in Philodromus, but larger and nearer
together. The whole body is hairy, with longer and darker hairs
scattered among the short ones. The males differ but little from the
females except in having a little longer hairs and darker color. They
live on plants and may be mistaken for Philodromus (p. 35) or for
_Ocyale undata_ (p. 88).