I’ve spent years looking for something other than the boring whitish, flat haired jumping spiders I commonly saw in Arizona, something with a bit of a flashy hairdo. Today – success! I just have to share a photo of my first ever jumping spider with little black tufts of hair coming off its head. The shot’s not perfect as I took it with my point and shoot camera and edited it in Flickr, but you should focus on the pure adorableness of that spider, not the quality of the image. Even better, this is my second saltie of the day! The first one wasn’t as cute, but I’ve never seen more than one species in a day before. Score!
Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope you all find the spider of your dreams today too. :)
The Dragonfly Woman 
They’re common, but I like the black jumping spiders with the little white “face” on its back. I always get a warm fuzzy when I see those.
It doesn’t matter how common they are. They’re still adorable, and that’s what matters. :)
very nice spider! :)
Thanks! I was quite thrilled to find it!
Better than any pic I’ve taken of a spider. Charming.
ct
Thanks! And the spider IS charming!
Beautiful! How big is it?
Fairly small still, 1/4 inch from head to tail.
I’m happy for you, but I think its the four eyes I’m having trouble with finding cute. I’m trying though!
Ha ha! That’s okay. I think the eyes are the best part of jumping spiders, though I certainly wouldn’t want everyone to be exactly the same as me. That would be boring! But if you don’t like the spider, I totally understand. Not everyone does – and it took me a long time to accept them myself.
…and there are four more around the back.
It get worse…
I like the horns, all pointy and they seem to be almost aligned with his eyes!
I like the little tufts too! Reminds me of a little old man with hair sprouting out of his ears. :)
Stunning photo. The sharpness of detail is outstanding.
Thank you! Wish I could zoom a bit with my macro to get a little closer, but I feel like this camera does a pretty darned good job with most of the things I want to photograph with it.
Hey, I’m impressed! My P&S cannot take pictures like that (I wish I’d sprung for a better one now), and I never seem to be able to find salties…that is a very cute one.
I bought this camera specifically for it’s great macro feature. I absolutely love it! If you decide to get another P&S at some point, I highly recommend the Canon Powershot G series. As for finding salties… Well, I had to move to a new state to do that! Arizona had them, but I maybe saw one every month there. In North Carolina I can’t get through a day without seeing one, and we get the crazy colored ones with wild hairdos here too! I am in heaven. :)
I would not have known you used a P&S if you hadn’t told us! it’s an excellent picture.
I found a fantastic salticid (Tutelina elegans) on Saturday, bright metallic green, but didn’t manage to get a fully in-focus picture of it. Woe.
I rarely get good shots of salticids, so I feel your pain with your metallic green saltie. But at least you got to see it, right? That’s better than nothing, and you can always use your blurry photos to remind you of how beautiful it was in person. That’s the best use of blurry photos as far as I’m concerned!
Yes indeed! And I do feel very lucky to have seen her–she was the prettiest spider I’ve ever seen. Maybe someday I will find another one.
I hope you do! And I’m sure you’ll be just as excited about it the second time around too.
That’s a great shot! You should be very proud. He is pretty damn cute too.
Thanks! I thought it was a pretty darned cute spider myself, so I’m glad you agree.
Appears to possibly be Phidippus putnami based on the 6 tufts on the carapace. Do you have a shot that shows the abdominal markings?
I do! This is it:
Look like putnami?
Yep, looks like it. It’s a pretty common spider in the Carolinas. Watch for the adult males. They’re really cool.
Heading over to BugGuide right now to see what I should be looking for! Wonder if that’s what the male jumper I found earlier the day I took this was…
Reminds me of the little spider I found on my computer the other day: http://keaneato.net/2012/07/11/pc-protection-keapod-extra/ (not a great shot, but fun anyway)
Aw, so cute! I just love those spiders.