Indoor spider from last month

[urbpan]

I caught this spider inside a building at work on November 14th. I know the precise date because then I posted the pictures of it on bugguide hoping to get an identification. I got no response so after a few days I posted the pictures on the https://www.facebook.com/groups/126339920837235/.



Those big appendages at the front of the spider strongly suggest that it's a male--those are "palps," used to transfer a sperm packet to the epigynum (no really) of the female. In other arachnid groups (most notably the scorpions) the palps are raptorial appendages for seizing prey. I suspected that this spider was a male of the Agelenidae family--the grass spiders or (non-Australian) funnel web spiders. Females build a trap web and stay put, but males wander widely and often end up indoors.


I thought this was a pretty decent photo for identification: identification to the family level in spiders is done by examining the arrangement of the eyes. Finally I got word from the facebook group, entomologist Eric Eaton commented "My best guess is a species of Coras." That genus is in the family Agelenidae, so that's reinforcement for my identification--with the caveat that Coras species are not listed as occurring in New England.


However, then I got the following from Bugguide: "I'm thinking maybe Cybaeus." I know nothing about that genus, except that it's in a different family. I would say this one is still a mystery for the time being.