Here is a daring jumping spider macro photoshoot for this #butterflyday and for the #insectpub group by @whatisnew
The latin name of this spider is Phidippus audax. The common name is daring jumping spider.
I think they get their common name from being so tame. They will often jump right into your hand. This gal crawled on the leaf I was holding to tap my thumbnail.
These spiders aren't harmful at all and won't bite unless you really squeeze them. Many people keep them as pets.
I found this one on my balcony and was able to catch it by just putting my hand in front of it and she hopped on. So I brought her inside for my macro lens.
I used my pressed leaf collection as a prop for her to crawl on while I took photos. Here you can see the bright orange spot on her back. This means she is still young, as they age this spot eventually turns white. The average lifespan of these spiders is two years so she is probably only half a year old.
It was difficult to try and get a face shot. They really are active and like to jump on the camera lens. You can king of see her iridescent green fangs in this shot. They use this color to identify each other so they don't accidentally eat each other.
Here is a better shot of her face and fangs. Notice the pedipalps, the two smaller arms in front of her fangs. This is how you figure out if they are male or female. Females have shorter smaller pedipalps while the males have larger ones.
In this shot she had just jumped off the leaf and set a safety line. They typically lay down a safety line before they jump just in case the drop is too steep. They can then repel down to a safe distance.
Sorry for the blur but this is an example where she jumped from a high place and ended up relying on her safety line. I had to reel her back up onto the leaf for more shots lol.
the photoshoot was a bit tricky, she was busy jumping all over the place and crawling on my hand at times instead of sitting nicely on the leaf backdrops. They are pretty small spiders not even as big as a thumbnail, fortunately they are tame and don't run and hide like most spiders.
This is probably the best shot of the photoshoot. A nice clear view of her face with an even tertiary leaf background. Perhaps next time I find one of these spiders I'll keep it as a pet for a while to try and get shots of it hunting. I tend to find them during summer and they are quite common where I live.
Happy #butterflyday :-)
OMG she is so cute! I used to have some on my balcony, but they were smaller and beige colour. I wish I could attract them somehow. I love to see them hopping around :)
I have the itty bitty beige ones too they kind of have zebra stripes I believe they are these, they are half the size of the daring jumpers at full size. http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2010/08/14/zebra-jumping-spider/
Is it the same? The pattern looks a bit different:
and one time I saw one like this. It was so adorable :)
And those two I found in the garden in the countryside
The black one has orange eyeliner lol.
Orange was the colour of the year ;)
Those are different than the zebra jumpers. There are many varieties of species, I wonder if these two only have latin names. They look pretty small.
They were small. As far as I remember the black one and the light sandy one were the smallest. The other two with pattern on butts were slightly bigger.
Looks like you have many different species there. I've seen very tiny green ones before as well as a gold colored one. I read there's around 6000 different species of jumping spiders but only around 1/10th are fully classified.
6000? And none on my balcony right now :(
Here's a different daring jumping spider I found randomly. These are the only ones I can actually catch easily and get photos of. I happened to have hornworms available to feed it.
They are both pretty! One is a bit less lucky though :p
Oh my Gawwdness, it makes me want to draw a spider ! 😊 these one has beautiful multiples eyes, I love the 4th photo, she kinda looks to the camera
Their faces are really cute. It's like they have big glasses on.
You know so much about these spiders.😊 In the last photo it looks like it has 4 eyes.. two smaller ones on the outside.. Great photos with your lens...
They have two more eyes on the back of their head too (total of six eyes). With that amount of vision they are really good at aiming and pouncing on their prey.
Oh wow marvelous creation...
When my son was 5 or 6 we had a jumping spider living in our mailbox. My son had decided he was afraid of all spiders, except this one. He named her Houser. He wrote a letter to the mailman to ask him to be careful putting mail in the box, because Houser lived there. They loved that letter at the Post Office and kept it in the drawer for several years.
haha Houser was guarding the mail. Much easier to deal with than a guard dog.