Phidippus purpuratus
Pelham, MA
This is one of the largest phids here in MA. I left my front door yesterday morning with one hour to wander and my mission was to find a Phidippus purpuratus. Unbelievably (in late February!!!) I found many!!!! I was thrilled to photograph one of our coolest local phids. Surprisingly I found a few dead adult females, a few sub-adult females and a whole bunch of very small early instars (3rd maybe). From what I've read this species breeds in the spring but I find it hard to believe that these very small early instars will be ready to breed this spring. This is one of the sub-adults that I found. I was completely surprised to see the cool rainbow chelicera (fangs) when she dropped her palps for a moment. Awesome jumper!!! Photo © copyright by Patrick Zephyr.