salticidae

Mature male dorsal shot showing eyepatches and colors

This male had escaped and was found outside with a wound on his head- i think he tried to court an audax or johnsoni and got nipped on the head. She's absolutely bursting with eggs!

Apache jumpers are strange- this population is full of huge specimens, yet another area nearby is full of tiny specimens that never reach 15mm. At any rate i'll have lots of eggsacs next year.. @_@ good thing i have a perpetual fruitfly harvest :D

Mature female This specimen far more greatly resembles johnsoni- identification was made easy by having these specimen as an immature.

Mature female The name 'ardens' is a reference to these spiders resembling a burning cinder with ash or soot. They are similar to johnsoni but unrelated and are closer to apacheanus, females often have striking high-contrast patterning.

Mature males are beautiful and high-contrast with yellow/orange/red coloration- somewhat like a mix of clarus and audax

There was a point where i thought 200 slings were a headache to rear. Now i long for such a small number. i'm gonna be rearing like 3,000+ slings next year. i might as well tie bags of fruit onto me and become a walking fruitfly culture at this point :\

This P. aureus is old and cant scale smooth stuff well anymore and has made a sheet-style eggsac- allowing me to watch the development- which is really cool because you're generally not allowed to see this!

Penultimate female. She looks like a 'standard' common ardens form but could end up maturing way different looking.

Yes I made that name up. It works though. Latin for 'Three-spotted' A strange morph of ardens mostly black. reminds me of the fused spot variation of audax a bit.

I will probably hold onto this female, get a brood from her with a yellow male, and backcross the better looking offspring. If i can intensify the black on the abdomen and head it'll really make those spots stand out more.

Macro of a mature male showing his beautiful fiery orange scales

Adventive from the old world, has spread throughout the southern states. Originally lithophiles, has become a 'wall jumper' in urban habitats Both sexes are beautifully marked with bold black stripes. Very agile and fast.

'Carnal Jumper' mature male Need to get this charming fellow a lady asap!

This specimen's population is quite distinct and is from an isolated area.

Penultimate female

A really high intense red on this female. Ill be eager to cross her with a nice male. Should make even redder babies :P

Lol she was walking around like a drunk.

'Golden tufted jumper' 4th instar sling

Golden tufted jumper i4 sling