In a mass of tiny pink flowers at the
Secret Garden, I surprised a pretty jumping spider:
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| Unidentified flowers. |
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| Jumper*, turned to look at my camera lens cover, dangling on its cord. I couldn't get him** to look at the lens. |
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| I love how the pink flowers are reflected in his shiny skin. |
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| More reflections. |
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| Some of the buds have a spider-head look about them, too. Pink jumping spiders! |
If a prey insect sees different colours than we do, does the spider just blend in to his surroundings? I wonder.
*By the markings on his back (white forward border, two dots, upside-down V, two more dots), he's a
Phidippus audax, the Bold jumper. But all the ones I see on BugGuide are on the east side of the continent. Most of the Bold jumpers have green fangs; I didn't get a chance to see his.
UPDATE: I found him in one of my books; his range is listed as "Throughout North America".
**I never got to see this spider head on, so I don't know if it's male or female. But I don't like "it" for a critter with a mind of its own, so I choose whichever comes to mind first.
So, might the smiley face play into its common name? Charming little creature, and nice photos. =)
ReplyDeleteFunny; I didn't see the smiley face because I was looking at it from the spinnerets forward, upside-down to your view. :)
ReplyDelete