![]() I couldn't match our spider with any picture of Mexican Loxosceles species. Apparently these "fiddles" look different, probably varying from molt to molt. In that picture, instead of an anchor, this individual's carapace design looks more like a tuning fork or slingshot. One of the larger spiders, disturbed by my camera poking into the corner, escaped to outside the bathroom, clung to the door and afforded a closer look: The carapace's center design looks more like an anchor than a violin, but then only a few species of Loxosceles species have carapace designs really looking like violins, though the main species in the Eastern US does. However, as of 2022 about 143 Loxosceles species are recognized worldwide, with maybe 41 occurring in Mexico, so which species are these? Knowing that closer pictures were needed for an identification, in the bathroom's dim light, this is as close as I could focus: Brown Recluses, genus Loxosceles, occur in such human-occupied environments, are brown like these spiders, and long-legged. On the carapace of the larger spider in the above picture, the dark middle splotch is vaguely shaped enough like a violin that I assumed that these were deadly Brown Recluses, sometimes known as Fiddleback Spiders, Brown Fiddlers and other such names. In insects, the head and thorax are separate divisions. The carapace is the top, or dorsal part, of the cephalothorax, which is the front section of a spider's body, the head and thorax fused into one section. Up close, patterns on the legs, abdomen and the carapace become apparent: At the picture's top, left corner, some pale, almost transparent "skins" shed during molting, the exuvia, can be seen. In the top corner of an otherwise neat outside bathroom with white-stuccoed interior walls, built beneath a staircase descending into the backyard, the above little community of spiders of different sizes have taken up residence. Many different types of spiders call the Lone Star state home, and they all have their unique characteristics.Entry dated December 24, 2022, issued from near Tequisquiapan, elevation about 1,900m (6200 ft), N20.565°, W99.890°, Querétaro state, MÉXICO Spiders are found in Texas, but there is no need to fear. Like the brown widow and black widow, some species prefer warmer climates with annual maximum mean temperatures that are frequently above 75☏. Some species of spiders tolerate drought conditions better than others- those that do may emerge earlier and remain active later into fall or even winter. This is when temperatures are warmest and food sources, like insects, tend to be plentiful. In Texas, spiders are active from early April to November, but they are most numerous in the summer months of May through August. Spiders are most active during warm months when food availability is high because they can easily find prey to feed on, like insects or other arthropods that emerge from their hiding places as it warms up outside. ![]() Much of this annual cycle is driven by changes in ambient temperature and precipitation patterns in the southern United States. ![]() So yes! There’s an annual cycle of spider activity in Texas, otherwise known as “spider season”. Spiders are predators, and they feed on other arthropods, such as insects, so their activity tends to be synchronous with that of the prey animals. ![]() A spider season is a period in which one or more species of spiders become active. ![]()
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