Ctenus sarawakensis

Family Ctenidae
Ctenus sarawakensis
砂拉越櫛足蛛

Scientific name Ctenus sarawakensis
GenusCtenus
Family Ctenidae

中國蜘蛛生態大圖鑑 Page 217 - 220

♀18mm

ESPLANATE 30-11-2014 SUN 11:04AM

30-11-2014 ESPLANATE

Wandering spider Family Ctenidae	Wolf spider Family Lycosidae
Ctenus sarawakensis ♀18mm 30-11-2014 ESPLANATE	Pardosa birmanica ♀7.5mm 7-11-2014 EDA SAWMILL
8 eyes in 3 rows in a 2-4-2 pattern. Our naked eyes can see only 6 eyes. Two of the eyes in the middle row are small and hidden below the two posterior eyes that could not be seen easily without magnifying.	8 eyes in 3 rows in a 4-2- 2 arrangement
Wandering spider Family Ctenidae	Wolf spider Family Lycosidae

The wandering spiders are the members of the spider family Ctenidae.

Ctenus sarawakensis
The false wolf spider

The carapace is a medium dark-brown, with a wide pale median band in the cephalic area which narrows in the thoracic area. Submarginal carapace bands are grey. White recumbent setae cover the median band and are scattered on the submarginal bands.

The dorsal surface of the legs is dark like the carapace, but the underside of the legs and the sternum is paler, almost yellow.

Ctenus sarawakensis is similar in appearance to the wolf spider and is almost always mistaken for a wolf spider of family Lycosidae.

Their appearance and habits, as well as the fact that they are relative often mistaken for wolf spiders

Although it looks like a wolf spider, Ctenus sarawakensis actually belongs to the family Ctenidae.

Ctenids can be determined to family by their unique eye arrangement, 8 eyes in 3 rows in a 2-4-2 pattern.

Lycosids also have a unique pattern, but in a 4-2- 2 arrangement.

Ctenus sarawakensis are slow runners and look sickly weak creature.

The family Ctenidae is primarily tropical and worldwide in distribution.

Male and female are similar in colour.

Venter of legs and sternum is as dark as dorsum of legs. Length ranges from 15-20 mm (Peck 1981). Leg span may be as much as 75 mm (3").

Ctenus sarawakensis is a wandering hunting spider; it does not make a web to catch prey.

Individuals are generally found in mesic habitats, on big trees, on the leaf litter, and even in caves.

Their colour pattern is cryptic, and they can be difficult to see unless disturbed. I am able to see it because it struggling to craw up the tree from the ground avoiding an army of big black ant marching past the ground under the tree.