Peucetia viridans

Green lynx spider
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Suborder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Oxyopidae
Genus:	Peucetia
Species:	P. viridans
Binomial name
Peucetia viridans (Hentz, 1832)
Synonyms
Sphasus viridans Clastes abbot Clastes viridis Clastes roseus Oxyopes viridans Sphasus poeyi Peucetia thalassina Peucetia aurora Peucetia bibranchiata Peucetia rubricapilla Peucetia poeyi Peucetia abboti

Peucetia viridans, the green lynx spider, is a conspicuous bright-green spider found on shrubs. It is the largest North American lynx spider.

Description

The female reaches a body length of 22 millimeters (0.87 in); the more slender male averages 12 millimeters (0.47 in). There usually is a red patch between the eyes, with red spots over the body. The eye region is clothed with white appressed hairs. The legs are green to yellow, with very long black spines, and covered with black spots. It is rather similar to P. longipalpis, the other Peucetia species to occur in the United States.

Gravid females are able to change their color to fit their background. This takes about 16 days.^[1]

Habits

Female with egg sac

The female constructs one to four 2-centimeter (0.8 in) egg sacs in September and October, each containing 25 to 600 bright orange eggs, which she guards, usually hanging upside down from a sac and attacking everything that comes near. The eggs hatch after about two weeks, and after another two weeks fully functional spiderlings emerge from the sac. They pass through eight instars to reach maturity. This non venomous spider is usually found on foliage

Human interest

The green lynx spider very seldom bites humans, and its bite is harmless^[2] though painful.^[3] It is primarily of interest for its use in agricultural pest management, for example in cotton fields. The spiders have been observed to hunt several moth species and their larvae, including some of the most important crop pests, such as the bollworm moth (Heliothis zea), the cotton leafworm moth (Alabama agrillacea) and the cabbage looper moth (Trichoplusia ni). However, they also prey on beneficial insects, such as honey bees.

Distribution

Photo showing relative sizes of legs

This species occurs in the southern United States,Some parts in Northern California, Central America, the West Indies, and Venezuela.

On a rose in Tyler, Texas

Name

The species name, viridans, is Latin for "becoming green". It is not to be confused with P. viridana, a species that occurs only in India and Myanmar, or P. viridis from Spain and Africa.

Gallery

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  Peucetia viridans, Female, Mason Regional Park, Irvine CA

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  Peucetia viridans, Female, Mason Regional Park, Irvine CA

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  green lynx spider, Chesapeake, VA

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  Male Green Lynx Spider, Chesapeake, VA

Footnotes

1. ^ Oxford GS, Gillespie RG (1998). "Evolution and ecology of spider coloration". Annual Review of Entomology 43: 619–43. doi:10.1146/annurev.ento.43.1.619. PMID 15012400. 
2. ^ Bush SP, Giem P, Vetter RS (2000). "Green lynx spider (Peucetia viridans) envenomation". American Journal of Emergency Medicine 18 (1): 64–6. doi:10.1016/S0735-6757(00)90052-4. PMID 10674536. 
3. ^ Williams, Dan. "Green Lynx Spider". Survive Outdoors.com. Survive Outdoors, Inc.. http://www.surviveoutdoors.com/reference/spiders/green_lynx.asp. Retrieved 1 September 2009. 

External links

• Green lynx spider on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site