Color morphs in Phidippus regius

Gogyeng

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 19, 2019
Messages
311
Back in time there were three established morphs in Florida alone, with substantial color and size variations,

Quoting @xenesthis, at the end of an old thread in 2009:
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/huge-p-audax.168205/

'P. regius has three distinct color morphs. The black morph is in North FL. The gray morph is in central FL and the orange morph is in south FL. In central FL, all three can be found, but the gray morph represented the most.'

However Phidippus regius has a wide distribution and can be found beyong North America, well across the Caribean and most of West Indies, including Cuba, with very colorful morphs there indeed. For instance the "Soroa" variant, has a vivid orange and black abdomen in females. Do you know any other morphs?

'Soroa' morph Pics from phidippus.eu :
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1386430174754677&type=3&__xts__[0]=68.ARDXN96CVYN67_y92_1aXcn5jWIsFyohFZp6m4pFiMgPkW2ocMjuAXmBxVJqHQD_7i2VdUdWv3op8aRXM-9sB65GuPCjluDAkpic5l9rb5PNen1AZVX2_38EezMJqtDR5Vsvyz0JbAS-X5q3Ih0axX-UOlbeHvL4J9EAVh01V-7Sox3cGXUkSeT_dx75HuUoamPLvfsY8by_jy1hJRIBCG_t-od3RtBL35WvF5DmakTfr5NDUWZsHtgclL_4-3jpgZG-MXvKeIG6W0r8s8XiwiGd5YBRENSzyW8LOti2XovTtnb6bnc0y68O9dTeUS1lF6WwXF_j5Enwwn5gKuDDDwblOO0_7cszUe6PxJd4LJwNMzG_MJMVP_VMCWM4JEEbgio0Mt11POMPbUCAcAq2dRYjrqvFfGtYy_D1neCeMlw3JPxV7U1KaXQRvNXmxzMBpecx4Vq1LCJtHA4&__tn__=-UC-R
 

Tortuga

Arachnoknight
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Apr 17, 2019
Messages
191
How do you tell the difference between P. audax and P. regius black morphs?

*Now I see, regius has coloration under the primary set of eyes and audax has significantly less hair on the carapace.
 
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Carnivoran

Arachnopeon
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Jul 25, 2019
Messages
6
It is both interesting, and unfortunate, to see the lack of genetic analyses on Phidippus. All data seems relatively old and based on morphometric studies (although there is nothing inherently wrong with these works). I have a background in mammalian studies, so it does seem rather stark in comparison. If only people knew the complexity of jumping spider behavior!

I will be watching this thread, as I wonder if we are dealing with subspecies, cryptic species and/or large superspecies, but perhaps more fine-tuned than the Phidippus otiosus group designation. It would be great for some genetic studies on one of the Phidippus groups to determine the genetic distance between members of these "groups" based on morphometrics.
 

BenLeeKing

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
239
It is both interesting, and unfortunate, to see the lack of genetic analyses on Phidippus. All data seems relatively old and based on morphometric studies (although there is nothing inherently wrong with these works). I have a background in mammalian studies, so it does seem rather stark in comparison. If only people knew the complexity of jumping spider behavior!

I will be watching this thread, as I wonder if we are dealing with subspecies, cryptic species and/or large superspecies, but perhaps more fine-tuned than the Phidippus otiosus group designation. It would be great for some genetic studies on one of the Phidippus groups to determine the genetic distance between members of these "groups" based on morphometrics.
Here’s a weird case~ Phidippus octopuctatis is not normally found in Washington, but there were sitings of a mysterious “WA P. octopuctatus”
https://bugguide.net/node/view/694426/bgimage
 

Carnivoran

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 25, 2019
Messages
6
Not sure if this is significant but the majority of the time, the iridescence of my male is blue. If I recall, most of P. regius males display an iridescent green, with blue hints. I also tried a UV light to see if there was additional patterning augmented or made .
 

BenLeeKing

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
239

Gogyeng

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 19, 2019
Messages
311
Found a more recent revision on Phidippus genus, with distribution maps included. By Edwards, 2004

P. regius and otiosus share roughly the same areas in Florida, but NOT in Caribean Bahamas and Cuba.
In fact the Cuban / Bahamas phidippus does not normally yield fertile eggsacks with the mainland (References breeders here in UK). So one wonders if in fact the caribean morphs represent in fact different subspecies, rather than simply locality.

The next closest to P.regius is P.diantus according to cladistics, end of the paper
http://peckhamia.com/editions/Edwards_2004_Revision_Phidippus.pdf
 

Tortuga

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
191
Found a more recent revision on Phidippus genus, with distribution maps included. By Edwards, 2004

P. regius and otiosus share roughly the same areas in Florida, but NOT in Caribean Bahamas and Cuba.
In fact the Cuban / Bahamas phidippus does not normally yield fertile eggsacks with the mainland (References breeders here in UK). So one wonders if in fact the caribean morphs represent in fact different subspecies, rather than simply locality.

The next closest to P.regius is P.diantus according to cladistics, end of the paper
http://peckhamia.com/editions/Edwards_2004_Revision_Phidippus.pdf
oh wow! great thread btw, lots of intersting info
 

Gogyeng

Arachnobaron
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Jun 19, 2019
Messages
311
Salticid phylogenetics with relation to demographics dates a common ancestor between american, european and asian radiations to 47-57 my. Young?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22735169

The biogeography and age of salticid spider radiations (Araneae: Salticidae).

Bodner MR(1), Maddison WP. 2012
 

Aline

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 5, 2007
Messages
52
How do you tell the difference between P. audax and P. regius black morphs?

*Now I see, regius has coloration under the primary set of eyes and audax has significantly less hair on the carapace.
Could you tell me where you got this info? What coloration under the eyes are you talking about?


Great thread, I would love to see more studies on morphs / subspecies / species of Phiddipus too...
 

Tortuga

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
191
Could you tell me where you got this info? What coloration under the eyes are you talking about?
That's a great question... what the heck was I talking about?! I was making poor observations and drawing even worse conclusions on a subject that I’m still learning about. Please ignore my ignorance and thank you for bringing it to my attention.
 
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Aline

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 5, 2007
Messages
52
That's a great question... what the heck was I talking about?! I was making poor observations and drawing even worse conclusions on a subject that I’m still learning about. Please ignore my ignorance and thank you for bringing it to my attention.
I wasn't actually pointing out the mistake, but trying to learn how to differentiate them :) So what you said is not true?
 

Tortuga

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
191
I wasn't actually pointing out the mistake, but trying to learn how to differentiate them :) So what you said is not true?
Not true at all. I was confusing myself and you as well apparently, sorry about that. I still can't tell the difference :rofl:. Now I have to wonder, are the pictures out there even correct?
image search for a P. audax (black morph)
tibor-nagy-flicker-sharing.jpg
image search of P. regius (black morph)
23181956-macro-of-phidippus-regius-jumping-spider-with-it-s-prey-house-fly.jpg
I can't tell the difference at all

*I've never actually seen a black morph P. regius with my own eyes, so there's that variable to.
 

Spiderman2019

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 1, 2019
Messages
3
Not true at all. I was confusing myself and you as well apparently, sorry about that. I still can't tell the difference :rofl:. Now I have to wonder, are the pictures out there even correct?
image search for a P. audax (black morph)
View attachment 318442
image search of P. regius (black morph)
View attachment 318443
I can't tell the difference at all

*I've never actually seen a black morph P. regius with my own eyes, so there's that variable to.
WHO IS SELLING THESE SPIDERS 3058030579
 

Tortuga

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
191
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BenLeeKing

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
239
I think audax has more “texture” to the abdomen than regius. When you look at an audax female, that abdomen is not completely uniformly black. You can see there’s a reflective iridescent area and a black velvety marking. I think that is what distinguishes audax from black regius. regius also has those “lashes” which I forgot what is the scientific word form them called.
 
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