While taking out the trash, I noticed a little gray form on the same bush which I had released the Phidippus audax I photographed this morning. With a closer look, I instantly recognized it as an adult female Phidippus mystaceus. I have been fascinated by the adult males of this species, so I may be getting close to finding one. The coloration of these males is truly incredible (take a look here).
Regardless, this female is beautiful in her own right. I've never seen markings or hair patterns quite like this. The markings on her abdomen and the back of her head are incredible with strange outlines shapes (take a look at the photos below).
This photo was taken with the 50mm reversed to a few extension tubes.
For those of you interested in seeing some jumping spiders in motion, I have uploaded a video on youtube featuring male and female Tutelina elegans jumping spiders here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgzNbeKwTvI
Hamilton Images, :chris:, and 310 other people added this photo to their favorites.
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B S Y 44 months ago | reply
amazing!
thanx for sharing this!
postigo80 43 months ago | reply
estupenda, muy buena.
LEMON ONE 43 months ago | reply
what an awesome shot!
C_Bunny 43 months ago | reply
this is the cutest spider, i've seen this picture used on alot of websites and even have it as my wallpaper.. superb shot
Jose R. Borras 40 months ago | reply
mmm... adorable spider
Seb Spiegel 39 months ago | reply
Fantastic!
Wil_Bloodworth 37 months ago | reply
Wicked cool!
bobadigilatis 36 months ago | reply
Truly amazing, thanks for the photo.
teresia 35 months ago | reply
creepy but fascinating
embernadette 34 months ago | reply
ok spiders really freak me out, and if i saw this in real life id probably die.
but these macro shots make it look beautiful!!
Great Work!
shadowshador 32 months ago | reply
A very nice shot.
Tizianohc 32 months ago | reply
Great macro work... she looks pretty shocked... maybe its just the wide eyes and hair sticking up :)
woody329 31 months ago | reply
Excellent work!!
arockmarketing 29 months ago | reply
I HATE spiders, but I wanna take this one home for myself lol. It's beautiful. I may even make a blog post about it on my blog at www.andyrockwellmarketing.com
aifacat 24 months ago | reply
Love the photo (and all your work on here...I love macro photography) - & FYI, someone has Photoshopped it and submitted to icanhazcheezburger.com...
icanhascheezburger.com/2011/06/29/funny-pictures-will-say...
roseycheekes 23 months ago | reply
She's actually pretty cute. Looks like she's frowning though : (
Nikon995images 16 months ago | reply
What??? excellent marcro
♥ saj255 ♥ 15 months ago | reply
Wow! Amazing shot.
myles2go1958 11 months ago | reply
She is so adorable. I would love to find one here. Thank you for this beautiful and cute spider.
stormchaserrieme 9 months ago | reply
How cool is this? Incredible shot! I've never seen anything like it!