Hey There, I was at work the other day and someone found this little spider at the bar and freaked out. I told them I would take care of it for them, but was shocked when I saw it was a jumping spider. I live in the California Bay Area and have never seen a jumper like this before. Can anyone help me ID it?
I also wish I could have kept it, but I was busy at work and just thought, let’s get them outside to some bushes or something and out of harms way…but I keep wishing I would have kept them & hoping they’re safe.
I have several Audax jumping spiders but I can’t identify this one. But @noodlehaus is probably correct with her identification. I’m so glad you rescued it from harm and relocated it it. I’m sure it will be fine!
I looked up some pictures of that species online and it doesn’t seem to match up with my pics. But it could be, I was thinking that maybe it’s a Colonus Sylvanus?
I’ll have to look more in depth, but the striping on the legs and lack of visible stripes on the abdomen make me think C. sylvanus is unlikely. Doesn’t help that species can have region specific colorations and California has a lot of species who look quite similar.
This is when we need an entomologist/arachnologist on standby.
I’ve mostly kept females, and that looks to me like a male. I have a P. adumbratus, but I’m pretty sure they’re female.
There are so many jumper species, and most species are sexually dimorphic +/- dichromic, AND there’s often a ton of regional variation. I second the idea of an on-call invertebrate identification unit!
