2017 April 6

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I photographed the spider below on the outside wall of my apartment building this morning.

   Robb Bennett writes:  It’s an immature male Clubiona.  There are 17 species recorded in the province, several of which are common in the Victoria area, and they all look like your specimen.  Commonly known as sac spiders, larger specimens have been known to bite, causing some minor localized pain and swelling.  In fact, at the first spider presentation I made here in Victoria a decade or so ago (for the VNHS), a youngster who had brought in a live specimen for the “show and tell” part was bitten by it.  It escaped from the lad’s container and got into his shirt and nipped him on the stomach.  The lad seemed unconcerned and actually got some good mileage out of showing other members of the audience the small welt on his belly.

Sac spider Clubiona sp. (Ara.: Clubionidae)   Jeremy Tatum