Philaeus chrysops
Encyclopedia
Philaeus chrysops is a species
of jumping spider
(Salticidae).
(chrysops means "golden eye" in Greek). The males have a dark brown cephalothorax
with two broad longitudinal white stripes behind the rear eyes. The abdomen
is bright orange-red on the back and the sides, with a longitudinal black stripe in the center and black shoulders. The long, slender legs are dark with the patellae and most of the tibiae of the first two pairs bright orange-red. The cephalothorax of the female is similar to the male, but with much smaller white stripes. The back of her abdomen is largely covered with a very broad brown band with two narrow longitudinal white stripes and a few white marks near the sides. The remainder of the abdomen and the sides are orange, the legs light brown with dark brown rings.
The spider prefers open and warm areas.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of jumping spider
Jumping spider
The jumping spider family contains more than 500 described genera and about 5,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders with about 13% of all species. Jumping spiders have some of the best vision among invertebrates and use it in courtship, hunting and navigation...
(Salticidae).
Description
Normal body length is 7 to 12 mm, but 5 mm small males do occur. Unusual for spiders, the males are often bigger. The sexes differ extremely: males are very colorful with a glaringly red opisthosomaOpisthosoma
The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma . It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata...
(chrysops means "golden eye" in Greek). The males have a dark brown cephalothorax
Cephalothorax
The cephalothorax is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. The word cephalothorax is derived from the Greek words for head and thorax...
with two broad longitudinal white stripes behind the rear eyes. The abdomen
Abdomen
In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...
is bright orange-red on the back and the sides, with a longitudinal black stripe in the center and black shoulders. The long, slender legs are dark with the patellae and most of the tibiae of the first two pairs bright orange-red. The cephalothorax of the female is similar to the male, but with much smaller white stripes. The back of her abdomen is largely covered with a very broad brown band with two narrow longitudinal white stripes and a few white marks near the sides. The remainder of the abdomen and the sides are orange, the legs light brown with dark brown rings.
The spider prefers open and warm areas.
Images
- digilander.libero.it: male with fly - male front view - male - male top view
