Iridescent Jumping Spider
Cosmophasis sp.
15.4561, 119.922
Field Notes
Description:
According to Wikipedia, there are three Cosmophasis spp. in the Philippines - C. trioipina, C. parangpilota & C. estrellaensis, all documented by Barrion & Litsinger, 1995. There is also the possibility of C. lami Berry, Beatty & Prószyński, 1997 which is listed as present in Southeast Asia (which obviously includes Philuppines). I can exclude C. parangpilota and C. lami, both of which can be identified from numerous pictures published online. So, if my assumption (that this is a Cosmophasis sp.) is correct, then it must surely be either C. estrellaensis or C. trioipina. The only other possibility is that this is an undocumented Jumping Spider, but that seems to be highly unlikely as this kind of Jumper is so very common here and it would be hard to believe that it has not come to the attention of arachnologists.
Habitat:
Spotted in our backyard on a Red hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn.) locally known, in the Philippines as Gumamela. Plant information from - http://www.stuartxchange.org/Gumamela.html...
Notes:
Although jumping spiders do not make webs to capture prey (because they are hunters), they do make great use of their silk. The two main uses (that I have noticed) are (1) They make a thickly woven "sleeping bag", attached to a leaf. I have not found out if they sleep in the same place more than one night, or move on and make a new little nest (or "sleeping bag") every night. (2) In common with other spiders, they feed out a strong, silk thread, everywhere they go, which acts like the safety rope of a mountaineer - it saves them if they fall and they can climb back up, very quickly, if necessary. You can see some of this "safety rope" in my first picture.
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