- Closeup face on
- From above, showing abdominal markings
- From above, with retreat
- Larger specimen, Oct 2009
- Facing
This spider was 4mm body length in a retreat in a folded leaf of Cissus antarctica (Native Grape) beside the creek. Like many small jumping spiders of this type it has black tips on the ends of the tarsi or "feet". The cephalothorax has a "helmet" of dark in the region of the eye quadrangles. The fringing white around the front and sides of the abdomen seems a feature as do the two converging and narrowing white lines on the posterior dorsal surface of the abdomen, and the two black dots at the posterior end of the abdomen, quite near the spinnerets. There are so many small Jumping Spiders like this it is quite hard to tell exactly what it is. It resembles Lycidas somewhat, but is most likely Opisthoncus, similar to O. polyphemus without the white patterning on the abdomen, the pattern on the face and the white around the dark circles on the anterior dorsal surface of the cephalothorax. The Davies Zabka key (Queensland Museum 1989) divides the groups according to whether they have many, double-pointed or single teeth, a feature only discernable with the animal under a microscope.
Closeup face on
From above, showing abdominal markings
From above, with retreat
Larger specimen, Oct 2009
This variation shows the two spots having turned into blobby streaks and the central white markings on the upper surface of the abdomen stronger. The head is More dark amber with a very definite black skullcap with creamy blotches marking the eye quadrangle and a short, thick, central line above and between the central eyes at the front.
Facing
