Spider Identification

July 1, 2011 10:57 AM

I recently ran across this little lady on my garden hose in my backyard in Milwaukee, WI. She moved very quickly when she wanted to, but mostly just tried to stay out of the sun. I snapped a couple pictures. She had a small white spot on top of her abdomen.
posted by Slinga to Science & Nature (4 answers total)

Best answer: Looks like a (common) jumping spider. They have slightly different marking nationwide, but are really awesome and great hunters!

Here's the Universty of Minnesota's extension site on spiders.

Also, it appears to be some form of the Phidippus genus (Daring Jumping Spider). Here's a pretty cool page on Salticidae of Wisconsin.
posted by bookdragoness at 11:28 AM on July 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was thinking jumping spider as well.
posted by AlliKat75 at 11:30 AM on July 1, 2011

I've been calling those little things "bungee jumping spiders" for their tendency to suddenly jump off the ceiling suddenly, swinging at the end of a nearly invisible thread of silk. Little did I know that they are officially called jumping spiders. Thanks, Metafilter!
posted by leapfrog at 11:54 AM on July 1, 2011

Response by poster: Sweet, thanks for the help.
posted by Slinga at 12:37 PM on July 1, 2011