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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Jumper on the trowel

When putting away some gardening tools this afternoon in Sebastopol, I noticed a jumping spider on one of the trowels.


A bright white face, overall brown color, with mahogany between the eyes, hints of violet iridescence on the legs and palps, and cream-colored stripes visible from above and at the leg joints.




In browsing pictures of jumping spiders on the Internet, the color pattern of this spider looks similar to Evarcha proszynskii.  But that's just the closest I've come to an i.d. so far.  Does anyone have thoughts about the identity of this captivating salticid?

ADDENDUM (30 April 2012)

Dick Walton has corrected my initial guess.  This is a species of Phanias.  Check out his Natural History Services website for some amazing and inspiring videos of jumping spiders.  (And Ryan Kaldari has confirmed it as Phanias albeolus.)

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