Male Crab-Like Jumping Spider
Sam found this on a windowsill on June 11, 2016. It was a little fellow, the body was not much more than an eighth of an inch, and even with the long legs I think it would have sat on a penny with plenty of room to spare.
It has big front legs like a crab spider, but the big pair of intent, staring eyes give it away as a jumping spider.
In particular, it looks like the jumping spider Hentzia mitrata.
It didn’t seem too concerned crawling around on my arm hair, which makes me think that as far as a spider is concerned a human is just another kind of terrain.
This is one of the really sexually dimorphic spider species, to the point where I’m pretty sure that the only way we know the males and females are the same species is that they are occasionally seen mating with each other. The females are larger, rounder, and white with tiny black speckles.
While it did jump around, it didn’t jump as far as other, comparable-size jumping spiders. Probably because those big prey-grabbing legs make jumping a bit more difficult. But, the legs also make grabbing prey easier once it has been jumped upon, so it’s still all good.
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Now that’s what I’m talking about. Beautiful.
This is one of the elongate species of jumping spiders. I have not seen this particular species, however.