Phidippus californicus
| Phidippus californicus | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Family: | Salticidae |
| Genus: | Phidippus |
| Species: | P. californicus |
| Binomial name | |
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Phidippus californicus Peckham & Peckham, 1901 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Phidippus californicus is a species of jumping spider. It is found in the southwestern USA (Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah and northern Mexico (Baja California peninsula, and Sonora).
P. californicus occurs in the sagebrush community of the Great Basin desert. These large jumping spiders are found on bushes such as the sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), the rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus), and the Four-winged Saltbrush (Atriplex canescens). P. californicus prefers bushes that grow on slopes with thin, stony soils, and appears to avoid conifers and moist habitats (e.g., the proximity of irrigation ditches). In the same habitat, often on the same bush, two other Phidippus species are found: P. apacheanus and P. octopunctatus.
Females can reach 12 mm body length, males 7 to 11 mm. Both sexes have blue-green iridescent chelicerae, a black cephalothorax and limbs, and a bright red abdomen with a median black stripe (similar to the female P. johnsoni). Between the black and red areas on the posterior part of the dorsal abdomen there are two minute white spots. At the sides of the abdomen there are light diagonal bands, and there is also a light transverse anterior band on the dorsum. These markings vary in conspicuousness: the bands and spots may be only a somewhat lighter shade of red than the remainder of the abdomen, while the median black stripe may be so reduced in width and length that the abdomen appears solid red. Sometimes, the basic color is orange rather than red, and very old spiders may even be yellow. In this species, the adult males and the adult females are similar in coloration, and this is also true of P. apacheanus. It is more usual for the males of Phidippus to have iridescent chelicerae and a distinctive adult coloration while the females of this genus remain similar to the immature spiders (e.g., P. clarus, P. octopunctatus, P. whitmani).
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