Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Phidippus johnsoni, the red-backed jumping spider or Johnson jumping spider, is one of the largest and most commonly encountered jumping spiders of western North America. It is not to be confused with the unrelated and highly venomous redback spider ( Latrodectus hasselti ).
Phidippus is a genus in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders). [1] Some of the largest jumping spiders inhabit this genus, and many species are characterized by their brilliant, iridescent green chelicerae .
Phidippus audax are commonly referred to as "bold jumping spiders" or "bold jumpers". [8] The species name, audax, is a Latin adjective meaning "audacious" or "bold". [8] This name was first used to describe the species by French arachnologist Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, who described the spider as being, "very bold, often jumping on the hand which threatens it". [9]
Also, females of Phidippus johnsoni have been observed carrying dead males in their fangs. This behavior may be triggered by aggression, where females carry over hostility from their juvenile state and consume males just as they would prey.
Many of the spider-hunting species quite commonly attack other spiders, whether fellow salticids or not, in the same way as any other prey, but some kinds resort to web invasion; nonspecialists such as Phidippus audax sometimes attack prey ensnared in webs, basically in acts of kleptoparasitism; sometimes they leap onto and eat the web occupant ...
But when some spider, e.g., Phidippus johnsoni (the red-backed jumping spider), gets a bad rap in the press because somebody gets bitten by something and the last thing s/he saw was one of these large and actually quite attractive spiders, it is very difficult to get any objective information.
Phidippus johnsoni; Metadata. This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.
Usually what I do is say, e.g., Phidippus species, or Phidippus johnsoni (?) depending on how big a limb I think I'm standing on. Bottom line, if the experts can't look at a photo and say, "That's definitely not a P. johnsoni!"