Spider ID assistance

<p>Hello all,<br>

I have noticed that people here are pretty helpful with assisting with IDs. I have looked at some of the usual sites for spider IDs, and think I am close, but could use a few extra eyes. My Spider guidebooks are also of limited help here. These are shots of a spider seen here in Central Texas, near a small stream. The first picture is as she was, in the bush, the second is a close-up of her eyes and mouth pattern. Larger images, as well as a few others of her patterning are in my <a href="/photodb/folder?folder_id=780956">single photo file</a>. her body was around 3cm long, her legs tip to tip closer to 9cm. I am thinking she is some type of fishing spider, though she doesn't appear to have the light colored markings along here side that all the ID photos show. Any assistance appreciated. Thanks<br>

-R<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17554488-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="453" /><br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17554490-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="680" /></p>

 

<p>Was this taken near water... it looks like a fishing spider...</p>

<p>Ms. Martel,<br>

Thank you. Yes, she was in a bush along the edge of a small creek. The closest I can get is that she appears to be a six-spotted fishing spider, based on size, location, eye-pattern and the pattern on the abdomen, though all the descriptions and images show very notable pale stripes on the thorax, which she is quite lacking. Perhaps she is just a slight color variant, not living up to the status of ID perfection...<br>

-R</p>

<p>Based on <a href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/221254/bgpage">this example in bugguide.net</a> my guess would be <em>Dolomedes vittatus</em>, <a href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/1985/bgpage?from=5">same genus as the six-spotted fishing spider</a> but is apparently less clearly marked a lot of the time.</p>

<p>Paul, I think you are correct. Thank you (I should have kept searching in the genus). It is listed as one of the spiders of Texas as well (http://pecanspiders.tamu.edu/spidersoftexas.htm), so I think mystery solved. Thank you both. She was a very patient model, let me get right up to her with the 60mm macro and ringlight (hence the circles in her eyes). A very lovely spider. </p>

<p>Sorry, I did not see the text of your question describing the spider.... I was looking at this on my mobile and somehow scrolled passed it...</p>

<p>She's a cutie. Great catch.</p>

<p>You can always recognize a fishing spider by the Coleman coolers they sit on and and the Zebco reels they use.</p>