Talk:Phidippus audax

Generality
How much of this article is on Audax, and how much is on Jumping Spiders in general?

Jumping spiders (Family Salticidae or Saltids) are known for the spectacular jumps the spiders make pouncing on their prey. There are approximately 4000 members of this family worldwide, and they are especially numerous in the tropics. All species are small, usually less than 15mm long. Jumping spiders do not construct webs, but actively hunt prey during the day, sneaking up and they pouncing on the victim. Many are brightly colored, sometimes with iridescent chelicerae (mouthparts).

It is a common predator of many crop pests, including boll weevils, spotted cucumber beetles, bollworms, cotton leaf worm, fall webworm, cotton fleahopper, lygus bugs, stink bugs, three-cornered alfalfa hoppers, leafhoppers, sorghum midges, mosquitoes. [1]

They possess 8 eyes and are known to have the sharpest vision of all spiders, important for hunting ability. The arrangement of the eyes, four big eyes on the face and four smaller eyes on top of the head, distinguished Saltids from other spiders. The larger pair of eyes (anterior median on the face) apparently serve for sharp vision, and the others for peripheral vision. Since the lenses of these eyes are relatively fixed, the internal eye muscles serve to move the retina. Because the retina is the darkest part of the eye and it moves around, one can sometimes look into the eye of a jumping spider and see it changing color. When it is darkest, you are looking into its retina and the spider is looking straight at you.

These spiders apparently have dichromic (two colored) vision with spectral sensitivities in the green and ultraviolet range. (Ultraviolet vision is apparently common in the insect and arachnid world.) They depend much upon their sense of sight to hunt or to court. It is apparently for this reason that many jumping spiders have iridescent markings or colors on their bodies, legs and chelicerae. In P. audax, the chelicerae are iridescent green.

Jumping spiders are carnivores and predators. They eat insects and other spiders. These spiders do not spin webs but make little silken shelters under leaves or bark.

Saltids are the most common biting spider in the United States. Persons gardening appear to be at risk for disturbing the habitat of this spider which may react by jumping on exposed skin and inflicting a bite. The bite is usually asymptomatic to slightly painful and subsequently results in a local reaction such as an erythematous papule or a small urticarial wheal.

To me, it looks like this hardly addresses the Audax at all. If this is the case, most of this should be moved toe the article on Salticidae, and removed from here. The Jade Knight 00:12, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
 * done. --Sarefo 22:39, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

The citation of the article on spider bites should be removed. The article in question offers nothing but apochryphal evidence and the author does not respond to repeated attempts at verification. I'm of the opinion this article is manufactured from whole cloth.User:Bruce Marlin


 * I am inclined to agree, especially given that it was written by a Dermatologist, not an Archnologist. The Jade Knight (talk) 06:52, 22 September 2010 (UTC)


 * I also agree with the suggestion that the section on bites be removed. I've seen various other sources claiming that actual bites from jumping spiders are very rare and having grown up in an area where they are common (particularly Phidippus audax) I would have to concur.  They are a highly evasive species and not aggressive towards humans at all. Of the two articles cited, one appears to be no longer online, the other written by the Dermatologist, uses faulty logic drawn from yet another source that no longer exists to conclude that the "source" claims Salticidae is the family most prone to biting and therefore, the most common species of that family must be the culprit.  Unless evidence of such a claim is scientifically documented, I would not regard them as sufficient evidence and so don't consider either of the two citations as reliable sources at all. 204.194.141.29 (talk) 23:49, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
 * The article is very repetitious. Yes, a lot of it pertains to Salticidae in general. Regarding bites: "Symptoms often include localised redness, itching, and swelling for one to two days or no symptoms at all" is the current text.
 * When I was a graduate student in zoology, I put 6 or 7 of these spiders in a fairly large enclosure. They kept their distance from one another, which suggested to me that they are cannibals. Another grad student had a spider wasp that he had caught, and we put it in a smaller enclosure with a P. audax. The spider stalked the wasp and finally leaped on it. As the wasp in the grasp of the spider struggled and tried to sting, the spider rotated the body of the wasp to keep the stinger away. I won that bet. :-) Wastrel Way (talk) 04:04, 27 October 2023 (UTC) Eric

Original description
Hentz, N. M. (1845). "Descriptions and figures of the Araneides of the United States". Boston Journal of Natural History. Volume 5: p.199.


 * ATTUS AUDAX.


 * Plate XVII. Fig 6, 7.


 * Description. Black; abdomen with a spot, several dots and lines, white; cheliceres brassy green; feet with gray and white hairs, 1. 4. 2. 3.


 * Observations. There is some obscurity in regard to the distinction between this and A. 3 punctatus, but there can be little doubt that there are two different species. This spider is very bold, often jumping on the hand which threatens it.


 * Habitat. Massachusetts.

The text "feet, 1. 4. 2. 3." is a ranking of the legs by length, starting with the anterior pair. Kaldari (talk) 06:54, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Range map
It's interesting the distribution map does not include the Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA metro area in the range of P. audax as this extremely distinctive spider is quite common here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.27.251.63 (talk) 20:37, 25 June 2010 (UTC)
 * It appears that the range map is based on a similar one in Edwards 2004, which in turn is probably based on surveys and collection records from various entomological collections. If you know of any reliable sources mentioning P. audax in other areas, please list them here. Kaldari (talk) 06:56, 5 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Years later this hasn't been fixed. This species' range includes all of the west coast. There is no way that map was actually made based "surveys and collection records." That's just a bogus map. This is the most common jumping spider on the west coast. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53809-Phidippus-audax#map-tab 71.63.160.210 (talk) 18:22, 11 May 2021 (UTC)

File:Phidippus audax male.jpg to appear as POTD soon
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Phidippus audax male.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on November 3, 2013. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2013-11-03. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:13, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Big Jump Crazy Spider
No one caught this? It is absolutely not known as the "Big Jump Crazy Spider", however entertaining the description. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:985:300:55AF:984E:EC45:E1FB:F0EA (talk) 19:07, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Map wrong
The map suggests that they have a very odd distribution where they're in the whole eastern part of the country including half the great basin, but then absent from the west coast except San Diego and Seattle. It is absurd, because it doesn't even follow ecological zones where the main line is, and in reality they're common all over the west coast including Oregon.71.63.160.210 (talk) 00:34, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Invertebrate Zoology
— Assignment last updated by GrillinBubbles (talk) 14:55, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: California Natural History
— Assignment last updated by Seanflaherty2003 (talk) 19:10, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

Additional Sources
Sources that may be useful in making edits:


 * Vickers, Michael E.; Robertson, Marianne W.; Watson, Casey R.; Wilcoxen, Travis E. (2014). "Scavenging throughout the life cycle of the jumping spider; Phidippus audax (Hentz) (Araneae: Salticidae)". Journal of Arachnology. 42 (3): 277–283. doi:10.1636/j13-31.1. ISSN 0161-8202.
 * This is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, so it should be a reliable source. It will be helpful in describing feeding mechanisms throughout Phidippus audax lifecycle.


 * Menda, Gil; Shamble, Paul S.; Nitzany, Eyal I.; Golden, James R.; Hoy, Ronald R. (2014-11-03). "Visual Perception in the Brain of a Jumping Spider". Current Biology. 24(21): 2580–2585. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.029. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 25308077.
 * This is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, so it should be a reliable source. This source will help provide facts about optical cues and their significance to predation in jumping spiders.

Kayleehussey (talk) 20:23, 30 September 2022 (UTC)


 * As noted above, a lot of this article applies to jumping spiders in general. P. audax is common in its range and more available for research studies. The results of research like this (especially the one on visual perception) probably apply to most or all of the Salticidae. I suggest putting in the article on jumping spiders and note that the research was conducted on P. audax with an appropriate link. Wastrel Way (talk) Eric