My P. Audax passed away :(

Little Grey Spider

Arachnoknight
Joined
May 14, 2017
Messages
262
Thanks. I think regius can be sexed on the chelicerae then.

Thank you for the information.
P. regius are far easier to sex because of obvious sexual dimorphism and able to sex much younger than audax. But like I've said, I've seen some friends have atypical individuals! Of course, that's the exception rather than the rule. I'd just prefer to look for the goods. It's easier for me. :) Good talking with you all.
 

Diesel24

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
41
Thanks for all your help guys! This site is awesome, I'm going to stick around and hopefully I get another jumper soon.

Basin, I'll get the pics of the pedipalps up as soon as I can.
 

Ungoliant

Malleus Aranearum
Staff member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Messages
4,096
I've been doing some research this morning, and I'm now second guessing if she was an audax or a regius. Unfortunately, I have no pictures clear enough that I think would help you identify. What are the main difference between the two? Judging by pics on the Web, they both look very similar.
If she was wild-caught in Colorado, she is likely not Phidippus regius, as they are primarily found in the southeast.

A formal description of how to distinguish between the two species.

One quick method is to look for iridescent scales and matte (without gloss) black patches on the abdomen. This feature is present in P. audax (left) but not P. regius (right):

Click the thumbnails for links to the originals.
 
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Diesel24

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
41
If she was wild-caught in Colorado, she is likely not Phidippus regius, as they are primarily found in the southeast.

A formal description of how to distinguish between the two species.

One quick method is to look for iridescent scales and matte (without gloss) black patches on the abdomen. This feature is present in P. audax (left) but not P. regius (right):

Click the thumbnails for links to the originals.
Wow thank you for that explanation, that was very helpful and exactly what I needed!
 

Diesel24

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
41
Ok, the death curl made these very difficult to get but I did what I could. Ever heard of one of these guys missing a pedipalp? Because I never noticed it before but it appears he's missing one.
 

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Ungoliant

Malleus Aranearum
Staff member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Messages
4,096
Ever heard of one of these guys missing a pedipalp? Because I never noticed it before but it appears he's missing one.
It could have lost a palp (or a leg) as a result of a bad molt or an attack by a predator.
 

Socfroggy

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jan 22, 2017
Messages
297
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't regius bigger than audax? And doesn't regius have purple iridescence whereas audax has a more green/blue iridescence?
 

Little Grey Spider

Arachnoknight
Joined
May 14, 2017
Messages
262
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't regius bigger than audax? And doesn't regius have purple iridescence whereas audax has a more green/blue iridescence?
Kind of, but it's just not that simple. Female regius very often have purple/pink where as males have green/blue/teal. However, there have been regius females documented with green and there have been (as I posted a pic on this thread somewhere back,) female audax with purple. The question wasn't differentiating between audax and regius. What the whole question was was identifying sex by the color of the chelicerae in the op's Phidippus audax. In audax it's certainly not an identifier and in regius, well, I just don't feel it's as reliable as checking gender the good ol' fashioned way. That being said, I don't think I've ever seen a male regius with pink jaws, but have seen females with green- so that's enough for me say I wouldn't sex on jaws alone. Just my personal opinion. :)
 
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