Jumping Spider (Sitticus fasciger)

click for large

I was out looking for a few spiders to photograph today, and boy was it slim pickings! I found several of this species, Sitticus fasciger, but they were all females which I already have studio pictures of. Finally I found this guy, a nice sized male.

Males of the species have smaller, more slender abdomens, and larger dark palps, as you can see here. Here's a picture of a female. For an informative paper on behavior and identification of this species, look here.

Sitticus fasciger is originally from Asia, specifically the Russia/China area. They are almost always found in conjunction with man. Their favorite habitats are man made structures like stone walls, houses, building walls and such, which is exactly where I found this guy. They were apparently introduced into the US in the 50's.

Raynox DCR-150 and Raynox DCR-250, stacked, and mounted on my Panasonic Lumix FZ8.