Phidippus otiosus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Canopy Jumper
female
female
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Dendryphantinae
Genus: Phidippus
Species: P. otiosus
Binomial name
Phidippus otiosus
(Hentz, 1846)
Synonyms

Attus pulcher
Attus peregrinus
Attus otiosus
Phidippus carolinus
Dendryphantes carolinus
Dendryphantes otiosus
Phidippus dorsalis
Phidippus pulcher

Phidippus otiosus is a species of jumping spider that is found in southeastern North America. It is primarily a tree-living species[1]. Females reach a body length of about 16 mm. Its iridescent fangs can range in color from purple to green.

Contents

[edit] Life cycle

Females position their single egg sac under the bark of oak and pine trees[2]. These are laid from December to February in South Carolina, and from January to June in Florida. The spiderlings mature during fall.

[edit] Systematics

P. otiosus is grouped with the closely related species P. californicus, P. pius and P. regius in the otiosus group[3].

[edit] Distribution

P. otiosus naturally occurs in the southeastern United States from Florida and Texas to North Carolina[4]. However, this species is sometimes exported with plants such as Tillandsia, with occasional finds in countries as remote as Sweden[5] and Germany.

[edit] Name

The species name is possibly derived from Latin otius "idle, at leasure", or from Ancient Greek oto- "ear", referring to the tufts of black hair.

A common name for this species is Canopy Jumping Spider.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Roach 1988
  2. ^ Phidippus otiosus "Canopy Jumper" | Tarantulaspiders Online
  3. ^ bugguide.net
  4. ^ Edwards 2004
  5. ^ Salticidae.org: P. otiosus from Sweden

[edit] References

  • Roach, Stephen H. (1988): Reproductive Periods of Phidippus Species (Araneae, Salticidae) in South Carolina. Journal of Arachnology 16(1): 95-101. PDF
  • Edwards, G.B. (2004): Revision of the jumping spiders of the genus Phidippus (Araneae: Salticidae). Occasional Papers of the Florida State Collection of Arthropoda.
  • Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.

[edit] Further reading

  • Edwards, G.B. (1980): Taxonomy, ethology, and ecology of Phidippus (Araneae: Salticidae) in eastern North America. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville.
  • (1996): Metabolic rates of resting salticid and thomisid spiders. Journal of Arachnology 24(2): 129-134. PDF

[edit] External links