Hefty running crab spider
Spotted this beefy beauty in the Columbia River Gorge area, Oregon.
Possibly Apollophanes margareta?
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No doubt a running crab spider (Philodromidae), but this is above my pay grade. My "Spiders of North America" field guide by Sarah Rose only covers one Apollophanes species and it's not this one, probably.
But one thing is sure ... she's thicc!
Excellent book! I love my copy - it was the first spider book I bought when I started falling down the rabbit hole
So I was curious and forwarded your picture to a friend who is a proper arachnologist. We were kind of chatting back and forth in German, so here is the summary:
While he isn't familiar with Apollophanes (we're European and don't have them here), they are closely related to Thanatus (which we do have). And while the pattern might be similar he feels like the general proportions are a better match for Philodromus.
Not a very concrete answer, but this guy has co-authored a published paper on Philodromidae, so I'll take his word for it.
I appreciate it, thanks for the info!