Trapdoor spider

5656   Hi, I dug up a fern in my mother’s yard and came across this spider.. With the whole body it was about the size of a toonie.. My mother lives in Langford BC. ( Vancouver Island ). I have never seen anything like this and am very curious if you could tell me which kind of spider this was.. I did not keep it and let it go.. Thanks, Christine

This looks like a female Antrodiaetus pacificus, a folding-door trapdoor spider in the family Antrodiaetidae; see http://tinyurl.com/lp7j62z for an image and nos. 5638 and 5640 for other examples. Ed Saugstad, retired entomologist; Sinks Grove, WV.