where can I find a reference to the indigenous species of spiders in Maine?

Question

I caught a furry black spider with yellow markings on it's thorax. I fed it another spider, and the black one seemed to "rot" it in it's pincers and then consume it. Its nothing I've seen before.

Answer 1

You need the National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England. I have it at home and use it all the time to identify animals in New England. It tells you locations of each animal by state.

If I get a chance, and this question is still up later, I'll Edit it and add an answer for you, but definitely check out that book.

Answer 2

Spiders of Connecticut, State Geological and
natural history survey of Connecticut, Bulletin
70, 1981, revised edition. This covers all the spiders of New England. How to know the spiders,
B. J. Kaston, 3rd edition, Wm. C. Brown Co.
For life history information, which it sounds like you
are interested in, American Spiders, W. J. Gertsch
2nd edition, Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Spiders predigest their food, and if they are large enough chew it up with their fangs. This would make it seem to rot. They suck up the liquified
predigested material. Depending on whether
they have chewed up the prey or not they may
leave either an empty shell or just a damp ball of
fragments when they are through feeding.