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entomopathogenic fungus on spider

Gibellula sp.?

Description:

An unidentified (jumping?) spider killed by a massive fungal infestation. It looks like one of the Gibellula species (a.k.a. Torrubiella) as (genus) was suggested below. There is more than one species with visual (naked eye) similarity to this specimen. This ID must be regarded as PLAUSIBLE at best.

Habitat:

Spotted on an ornamental Hibiscus sp. shrub in a village yard. Surrounding semi-natural habitats included ocean beach, remnant coastal freshwater swamp forest /sago swamp and a coralline limestone ridge.

Notes:

See also http://bugguide.net/node/view/230781?fro...

1 Species ID Suggestions

DaniKisso
DaniKisso 12 years ago
araneogenous fungus
Gibellula pulchra A spider’s nightmare :Cornell Mushroom Blog


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39 Comments (1–25)

Christine Y.
Christine Y. 10 years ago

Great spotting, poor spider!

Leuba Ridgway
Leuba Ridgway 11 years ago

awful for the spider but what a spotting ! I hope this kills the spider quickly...

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

Thanks very much, Tom!

Tom15
Tom15 11 years ago

Great find and photo!

DinDjarin
DinDjarin 11 years ago

SPECTACULAR¡¡¡¡
NICE¡¡¡¡¡
COOOL¡¡¡¡
NICE SPOTTING¡¡¡¡
WELL DONE¡¡¡
CONGRATULATIONS¡¡¡¡

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

Thanks very much Braulio and Noel!

Noel Buensuceso
Noel Buensuceso 11 years ago

Wow! Great spot S Frazier!

Braulio Rivas Tapia
Braulio Rivas Tapia 11 years ago

A BBC documental.

Braulio Rivas Tapia
Braulio Rivas Tapia 11 years ago

Incredible!
Have you ever seen PLANET EARTH: JUNGLES?
Is an impressive documental about the wildlife in rainforests and there I saw fungus like those. Nice picture!

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

Thanks Mayra, Chief & Joshua!

Josh Asel
Josh Asel 11 years ago

wow great spotting man

MayraSpringmann
MayraSpringmann 11 years ago

Wow! Incredible!

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

Thanks kimkiu, Christine & Carol!
@myxomop I have created a record http://mushroomobserver.org/95666?q=Gliq...

kimkiu
kimkiu 11 years ago

impressive spotting!

catgrin
catgrin 11 years ago

Fantastic photo! It's amazing the distruction that fungus causes to the body.

CarolSnowMilne
CarolSnowMilne 11 years ago

WOW! Great!

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

Yes Thanks, I intend to upload the images once I locate the originals. No microphotographs available...Yes it is not a firm ID, amended to indicate this.

myxomop
myxomop 11 years ago

and the recommendation for uploading this to MushroomObserver still stands, with microphotos if at all possible.

myxomop
myxomop 11 years ago

Not possible to ID without a microscope. __Gibellula pulchra__ is only one of many entomopathogens that occur on adult arachnids. Knowing the ID of the host may be critical as well.

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

Thanks Leuba & Satyen!

Leuba Ridgway
Leuba Ridgway 11 years ago

I wasn't part of PN when you put this up - what an amazing spotting ! and very clear photos too...

Wild Things
Wild Things 11 years ago

Nice spotting. Never knew such phenomena's occur :-)

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

After a horrendously long time, I am moving this spotting from arthropods to fungi and giving it an (partial) ID. Thanks again to DaniKisso for his species suggestion so many months ago.

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

Thanks. No I didn't. Yes, at one of my locations. Thanks for the tip.

myxomop
myxomop 11 years ago

Outstanding. Did you save the specimen? Do you have access to a microscope? I'd highly suggest uploading this to MushroomObserver.org

Scott Frazier
Spotted by
Scott Frazier

Papua, Indonesia

Spotted on Aug 19, 2011
Submitted on Aug 24, 2011

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