Wallis the Daring Jumping Spider

Allow me to introduce you to my eight-legged friend Wallis, a Bold Jumper who also goes by the name of Phidippus audax. She belongs to the subfamily Dendryphantinae (home to the genus Hentzia), and the family Salticidae (Jumping Spiders). Wallis lives in one of the posts of our front porch railing. She likes to sit halfway out, scanning for prey with her large front eyes. Then, once the prey comes within range, she strikes! When she's sleeping off a meal or just waiting for the sun to go down, she curls up in her lair, usually out of sight. But when she's hungry, she's a very persistent girl and doesn't give up easily, even if potential prey flies away or thwarts her fangs with its exoskeleton. She eats kudzu bugs as appetizers or snacks in between meals. Insects like moths and stink bugs hold her longer. I haven't seen her for a few days now, so I think she's decided to hunt at night when it's cooler and she can blend in better (she's dark, after all). The photos below were taken over a couple weeks' time.

How can you resist those big black eyes? We call her "Wallis" because her shiny green chelicerae look like walrus tusks.

"Hello! Are you food? Or are you gonna eat me?"

As I mentioned, she likes kudzu bugs. A lot.

Nomnomnom.

"Mine!"

In the next series you can see the kudzu bug I found for her in the background. Turns out she was just finishing up one she had caught herself! She emerged from her lair, sucking the last juices out of the bug before dropping it over the side of the railing.

Look at her, holding her palps together like a proper lady. But her expression says, "Don't you just hate it when you get your foot caught in a kudzu bug leg?"

In upcoming posts I'll show you photos of Wallis with a moth and a stink bug (both of which I caught for her). I must say, I love jumping spiders. What's not to love about their big black eyes, so cute and expressive? My favorite genera are Phidippus and Henztia. But no matter what other species I discover in my yard, Wallis will always have a special place in my heart.

References:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/2006 (P. audax)
http://bugguide.net/node/view/1993 (Phidippus)
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Phidippus_audax/
http://eol.org/pages/1213655/overview
http://archive.org/details/male_female_Phidippus_audax (video of male vs. female behavior - from my home county, Greenville SC!!)
http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol3num2/centerfold/phidippus.html (about bites)
http://archive.org/details/PortraitoffeedingfemalePhidippusaudax (video of feeding female)
http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/spiders/Paudax.htm (photo gallery of adults & immatures)