Subject: Charming lime-green jumping spider
Geographic location of the bug: Pinellas, FL
Date: 05/03/2019
Time: 03:48 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Hello! I found this charming lime green spider a few days ago, at school on a handrail underneath an oak tree. At the time I found him, it was a early summer day, very hot. After a little bit of spider-chasing, I had him on my hand. He didn’t seem that scared, and was quite interested in my phone, which he attempted(and succeeded), on multiple occasions, to jump onto. I’m writing this right when I have access to the internet again!
This charismatic little spider was about as big as the nail on my thumb, and moved in quick bursts. It was fond of jumping, which was odd because the only thing that resembled that of the jumping spiders i’m familiar with is the face. I considered keeping him for a little while just to look at him and study his feeding behaviour, but I thought that would constitute as arthropod kidnap and I thought he’d like his tree a lot better. I let him go back on the trunk of the oak tree(which was a bit hard, since he was very interested in my upper arm), so he wouldn’t be squashed by passerby.
How you want your letter signed: Chance Arceneaux
Dear Chance,
This little beauty is a Magnolia Green Jumper, Lyssomanes viridis, and she is actually a female. The Magnolia Green Jumper is a species with pronounced sexual dimorphism, meaning the male Magnolia Green Jumper looks like a very different species. Here is a BugGuide image of the male. Though we question how many passersby would have even noticed her, we are nonetheless tagging this posting with the Bug Humanitarian Award as an acknowledgement of your concerns.
