Jumping Spider

Description:

Salticidae; Heliophaninae; Phintella sp. As I have mentioned in previous spottings of Phintella Jumping Spiders, they are extremely difficult to identify to species level. The main problem for me is the iridescence displayed by the fine, silky hairs which pretty much cover the entire body. This iridescence makes the all-important markings (which would normally assist identification) vary greatly, depending on the angle of view and the direction of the light. If you look at the third photo, you will see clearly that the black marks on the carapace of the cephalothorax, look quite different from those on the other two photos, but these are all pictures of the same spider. Pictures displayed online, to help with identification, tend to have the same problem. So, it is nearly impossible to match images in the normal way. So I think that all my Phintella spp. might remain unidentified to species level. Wiki lists 59 species and 1 subspecies in the genus Phintella. So, that adds up to a whole lot of iridescence. Postscript: Shortly after posting this spotting, I received a very helpful species suggestion from arne.roysland - Phintella piatensis, but this came from inaturalist, posted there by a professional photographer who does not seem to have provided a scientific reference. So, I will search for a reference before editing this spotting to show that species. In that way, the species name will be more secure.

Habitat:

Spotted on unidentified foliage in rice mill front yard.

Notes:

In Wikipedia, there are only 3 Phintella spp. listed as present in Philippines. P. bunyiae Barrion & Litsinger, 1995, P. piatensis Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 and P. vittata, (C. L. Koch,1846). So, despite the problems of iridescence, it cannot be too great a task to complete the identification of my various Phintella spiders. I will just have to persist until I get there.