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Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter
from the June 28, 2018 Newsletter issued from Rancho Regenesis in the woods ±4kms west of Ek Balam Ruins; elevation ~40m (~130 ft), N~20.876°, W~88.170°; central Yucatán, MÉXICO
FISHING SPIDER
While sitting beside the rancho's cement-lined pond waiting for something to happen, a fair-sized green spider skated across the water's surface and took up position on a floating leaflet, as shown below:
Back in Texas we've seen an aquatic spider with similar shape, white lines along the front part (the cephalothorax), and white spots along the top of the abdomen at the rear, but it wasn't green. You can compare our Yucatan spider with the Texas one at www.backyardnature.net/n/a/fishspid.htm
The Texas one was identified as the Six-spotted Fishing Spider, Dolomedes triton, and is commonly found throughout much of North America, plus it's known to occur in Mexico, though I can't find mention of the species in the Yucatan. Also, they're not green.
The North American ones and our Yucatan ones are so similar structurally that I can't imagine that they belong to different genera. However, I can't find any Dolomedes species looking like ours listed for the Yucatan. So here's another instance of "maybe we have something new."
Whatever the case, our picture and this information is being filed on the Internet under "Dolomedes aff. triton, the "aff." meaning "affinity," which admits uncertainty about the name, and we'll just wait for a specialist to let us know what the deal is.