Paraphidippus aurantius Golden Jumping Spider

Description

The Paraphidippus aurantius Golden Jumping Spider rivals the Apache Jumping Spider as a candidate for most beautiful US jumping spider. They are a widespread species, ranging through half the states in the country and yet they are rarely offered.

Two captive-bred sacs should hatch in late Sept or early Oct. After the babies molt a couple times and are feeding with stability on fruit flies, we’ll be offering them out. Please get on the waiting list if you’d like to be notified when they are ready!

Both males and females are striking in their coloration. The word “aurantius” pretty much means orange, and females of the species often have some or a lot of orange on them. And yet, it’s just one of the colors and, viewed from different angles, the metallic backs and heads of females reflect all sorts of different colors, depending on the light, and not limited to greens and golden coloration. Of course, there is variation from specimen to specimens and many females have attractive black and white blotching along the perimeters of the abdomens. Up to 11 white spots may be present on the dorsal surface of the abdomen, surrounded by metallic green.

Males are thinner and darker, but extremely attractive in their own right. Their abdomens also reflect metallic green tones and exhibit white spots. Their heads reflect some metallic green as well and have a white line at each side of the cephalothorax.

This is a brilliant species, and I would not begrudge anybody for saying they are the most beautiful US spider.

The prettiest US jumper? You can see photos of them at iNaturalist through THIS LINK

 

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