Subject: Black/white Hairy Spider
Location: Hollywood
March 16, 2015 4:15 pm
Hi Daniel,
This little dude was in my garden today. Mostly black and hairy —with a little bit of white. Looks like fake white eyes on the back. Large green fangs?
1. What is it? 2. Is it poisonous?
Thanks!
Signature: Temple
Dear Temple,
This jumping spider in the family Salticidae is a Bold Jumper, Phidippus audax, a conclusion we reached by matching your excellent images to this posting on BugGuide. There is also an excellent page on BugGuide that depicts the variability within the species. Jumping Spiders are considered harmless to humans, though a large individual might bite. Most all spiders are venomous, but very few are dangerous to humans because the venom is either not lethal to humans or the fangs (chelicerae) are too weak to break human skin. Like other Jumping Spiders, this Bold Jumper does not spin a web to snare its prey. Jumping Spiders have excellent eyesight and they hunt their prey by jumping, often from great distances. One final note, your dude is a dudette.
