Cool Jumping Spider
I just love the Salticidae (Jumping Spiders). Whenever one manages to find its way inside our house and is discovered, I'll carefully capture it for macro photography. Yesterday I found this awesome specimen of what I believe to be a male Platycryptus undatus, though I'm not 100% sure on my identification. Shall we go over the field marks? Are any readers an arachnid expert? For photographing him, I setup a little studio on a piece of white paper beneath a fluorescent light. At first he wasn't very cooperative and kept jumping onto the camera lens. Though rather menacing in close-up photographs, this spider is only around 12mm long.
All images © 2008 Mike McDowell
posted by Mike McDowell @ 3:47 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Those are amazing photographs of an amazing spider.
Beautiful shot. I too am a fan of family Salticidae: http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/C853940471/E20070515153803/index.html
What lens did you use for those shots?
BWJones,
Thanks!
A Nikon Coolpix 4500 in macro mode.
For simplicity, here's a link to the URL above.
Very cool photos!
Check out this one.
Cheers,
Mike M.
I can't believe all the detail on this spider! And that you let him back onto your living room wall!! No matter how small - don't they still bite.....
They don't take much! Kidding. They pretty much stick to eating small insects.
Mike M.
Mike,
I am always amazed at how beautiful your work is with birds. And now the lighting and composition of your little jumping spider truly impress. I love this http://www.birddigiscoping.com/blogjspider2b.jpg shot.
Mike, Nice change of pace. Field marks suggest the identification of "Boris". ;)
"At first he wasn't very cooperative and kept jumping onto the camera lens."
And your heart kept beating???!
"Much to Becky's regret, I released him to the living room wall where I found him."
"Regret"??... c'mon I wanna hear the REAL words Becky used ;-) (even if this is a family-rated blog)...
I had a "pet" tarantula when I was a teenager. I would set him on my shoulder while I worked on my computer. Sometimes he'd stay put, other times he would crawl around on my back.
Mike M.
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Thanks so much for your blog. It is certainly making my transition from Arizona to SW Wisconsin, much easier. I have been going out of my mind..(in a fun way) trying to identify all the differences. Which is just about..everything I see. I did think that was a tarantula at first glance..
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