A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Phileaeus chrysops
Normal body length is 7–12 mm, but 5 mm small males do occur. Unusual for spiders, the males are often bigger. The sexes differ extremely: males are very colorful with a glaringly red opisthosoma (Χρυσοπς = golden eye). The males have a dark brown cephalothorax with two broad longitudinal white stripes behind the rear eyes. The abdomen is bright orange-red on the back and the sides, with a longitudinal black stripe in the center and black shoulders. The long, slender legs are dark with the patellae and most of the tibiae of the first two pairs bright orange-red.
The spider prefers open and warm areas, this one was spotted on traditional limestone walls on the edge of the forest. It occurs in the Palearctic, reaching into South China.
Spotted on Apr 29, 2013
Submitted on Apr 29, 2013
2 Comments
I am seeing this one every day ;) never moves further away from the same rock ;) and have realized that it also like to be photographed ;)
Oh I just found one myself, but mine is bright red:)
Cute spider!