Some Philaeus chrysops pictures

[Emanuele]

Not only you, American friend, have great jumpers!
This pictures show a sub-adult Philaeus chrysops.
Hope you like them...
Cheers
Ema

 

[P. Novak]

wow completely stunning, the spider and the pictures! If you don't mind me asking, what kind of camera are you using?

 

[Emanuele]

Thanks!
For this pictures I used a Nikon D200 + Sigma 105 mm/F2.8 + 3 extension tubes Kenko + 3 extension tubes Nikon + the macro flash Sb-r1 + Nikon SB-800 (as a background flash, underexposed a bit). you can notice the speedlights reflections in the eyes of the spider (the upper one hadn't any diffusor).
I shot at about f16, ISO 100.

For the photo with the mushroom I only used the macro flash and the 105, without tubes and sb-800.

 

[Blackrose]

Hi

How big do these spider get?

Regards
Andi

 

[Gordon]

@ Emanuele

I absolutly agree with you. I was in Italy (Arezzo) last september and saw some beautiful jumpers.
This should be Philaeus chrysops too, I would say a subadult female.

Also nice: Phlegra fasciata

For this one I have no idea. But she had bad luck to cross the way of this wasp:

 

[Emanuele]

Andi:
Philaeus is just a bit smaller than Phidippus audax, about a cm long when adult, but it depends a bit on the population.

Gordon:
yes it seems Philaeus, not so grown... I think it's not Philaeus chrysops, it seems Philaeus bilineatus. At that stage is still not possible to sex them.
The one with the wasp could be Sitticus, maybe S. pubescens or S. rupicola

Did you ever see Cyrba algerina? It's one of my favorite and they are quite common here were I live. But they are quite little animals.

 

[diadematus]

Andi:
Philaeus is just a bit smaller than Phidippus audax, about a cm long when adult, but it depends a bit on the population.

Thanks! It's always nice to have a size with the images as there is rarely a useful scale in the picture (unless you already happen to know how large the spiders get).

-Kevin

 

[Gordon]

@ Emanuele

Philaeus bilineatus? Hmm... I have consulted PLATNICK and there is no species with this name. P.bilineatus seems to be an older synonym of P.chrysops...

No, I have never seen Cyrba algerina. But once in France I found many males of Saitis barbipes. They are also "small but beautiful".

 

[Blackrose]

Hi

Is Philaeus chrysops the biggest jumper in Italy?
I especially like the Saitis spec. you have there. They look so cool!


Regards
Andi

 

[Emanuele]

Yes, Gordon, Platnick give reason to Proszynzki (1971) who considered P. bilineatus as a chormatic version of P. chrysops. But he only comared them on the basis of the female apparatus. Anyway, Salticidae aren't a group that's easily determined by genitalia, as the various Ballus species show (they have very similar genitalia, but really different colorations, and they don't interbreed). In the publication "A collection of Italian salticids, mainly from the Tuscan-Emilian Appenines" by Cantarella et alii, 1996, it's pointed out that the two males described have some differences in the palps if compared to the typical "chrysops".
Without entering too much into taxonomical characters, I can say that the specimen in the picture of Andi, is indeed a "bilineatus" (I leave to other the decision to call it a species of a chromatic form).

About Saitis barbipes, it's quite funny, because last evening I found a young of this species walking around in my room! These are very common spider but really really interesting too, I agree with you.

Cheers
Ema

 

[Emanuele]

Ah, yes Andi, Philaeus is possibly the biggest species in Italy, together with Menemerus semilimbatus, which not attain the same size of Philaeus but it's still quite big (about 7-9 mm)