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Jumping spider
One of the people that I work with here in San Pedro,Ca. brought me this weird looking beast and with the help of your website I was able to identify it as a Jumping Spider. Your website is a great resource for those of us that enjoy photographing the wonders of the insect world. I noticed that your description of these spiders says that they do not use webs. This guy had spun some webbing and was hanging out there. Do they just not use webs to trap their prey or do I have a confused psycho spider? Just curious about this behavior.
Rus

Hi Rus,
We believe your jumper is Phidippus johnsoni based on images posted to BugGuide. This species as well as other Jumping Spiders have highly variable markings. Regarding the silk production, all spiders can produce silk. While Jumping Spiders do not spin a web for catching food, they still spin silk. Jumping Spiders spin silk as a kink of lifeline. When they jump, the silk acts like a tether. Your spider is in an enclosed location, and is probably spinning silk as it wanders aimlessly trying to find a way out, hence the tangled web.

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