House spiders

Sometimes one doesn't need to go far to find spiders. Some spiders are quite happy inside houses (especially if you don't clean things too often). Our house is of course very clean, but once in a while we get some neat spiders. Today I will focus on a particular microhabitat: the windows in the south-west corner of our house.

 

While I was eating breakfast, I noticed on the wall above the window a big Phidippus jumping spider. This one is probably Phidippus audax (a.k.a. the Daring Jumping Spider), a black species with abdominal spots  that are white in adults and sometimes orange in immature individuals. For some reason, I have never seen this species in the mountains, where I do my field work-I have only seen it down in the valley. The only Phidippus I have seen in the mountains is P. johnsoni.  

Phidippus (prob. audax)

I found a second jumping spider by the window, a very small immature Platycryptus. Spiders in this genus have a mottled pattern on the abdomen and a flat body that allows them to hide in tight places. I have often seen these spiders wandering outside on the house walls. 

 Platycryptus jumping spider

Perhaps jumping spiders favor window areas as hunting grounds inside houses because they are diurnal spiders that rely on their excellent vision to find prey.