Never seen in 36 years
Location: Vancouver BC Canada
June 16, 2011 6:52 pm
I thought I’d seen all the spiders in my yard, but apparently not. I have seen a few of these in the last couple of days and was wondering what they were. Btw my most unfavorite spiders in my house/yard are the giant house spiders, man are they fast!
Signature: Shawn B
Dear Shawn,
This is a Jumping Spider in the genus Phidippus. Many species in the genus are highly variable in color and many species look similar. Here is a photo that looks close from BugGuide. Jumping Spiders do not make a snare to capture prey. They are hunting spiders that jump great distances. They have excellent eyesight. They will follow the movements of a human observer. This poor individual pictured on BugGuide looks as though it didn’t survive its human encounter.