Opisthoncus sp. (genus)

2 Unidentified Opisthoncus jumping spider at Booth, ACT

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Identification history

Opisthoncus sp. (genus)	24 Aug 2019	MichaelMulvaney
Opisthoncus sp. (genus)	3 Dec 2018	KimPullen
Unidentified	30 Nov 2018	Christine

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User's notes

I think it was around 7mm long. It was not happy being on the car door, and kept trying to run, but fell and pulled itself back up on a silk line until I deposited it out side and it disappeared.

3 comments

YumiCallaway wrote:

3 Dec 2018

Was it a salticidae jumping spider? If it was, again referring to 'A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia', top two images on p.292 or possibly the left one of the top two images on p.301 seems likely. So Opisthoncus serattofasciatus or Sandalodes bipenicillatus.

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

5 Dec 2018

Yumi I asked stuart Harris about this one and he said "Classic example if the lack of resources around IDing salticids. Robert Whyte's book has impressive shot of male S. superbus but is a very poor photo in relation to key factors for identifying, ie, cannot even see abdomen?
The saddle in the abdomen indicates Sandolodes sp. though in Christine's shots is not so apparent. Both Sandalodes and Opisthoncus both occur commonly in the ACT and its suburbs and park. Size is a factor too, the Sandalodes male is usually in excess of 12mm, sometimes up to 15mm.

Christine wrote:

5 Dec 2018

The spider may have been larger than 7mm, I am not good at estimating, and was really focusing on trying to get a photo while it was moving constantly. I have added another photo, it is on the door of a friends car, so not easy for me to get a photo of it with a ruler, but this last photo may give a better indication of the size of the spider, in context. I was trying to get as close as possible to the spider to get detail, and not thinking about size, sorry.

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