Species found in rain forests are fascinating. They are unique, colorful, and sometimes intimidating. In this edition of Salticidae Sunday, we are going to focus on a jumper that has been falsely accused of being one of those intimidating and dangerous species found in the rain forest.
|
Kingdom |
Anamalia |
|
Phylum |
Arthropod |
|
Subphylum |
Chelicerata |
|
Class |
Arachnida |
|
Order |
Araneae |
|
Infraorder |
Araneomorphae |
|
Family |
Salticidae |
|
Genus |
Telamonia |
|
Species |
T. dimidiata |
Identification:
There are so many colorful species of jumping spider that it shouldn’t be surprising when I say the Telamonia genus in general is colorful with different variables ranging between all the species and gender. One thing they do have in common with each other is their slender abdomen. The dimidiata is no different. If you happen to live in, or visit Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, India, or Bhutan, keep an eye out. If you happen to find one, feel free to post to our Facebook group BigFATPhids.
These jumpers can range anywhere between 8-11 mm. As with most species, the females and males have very different coloring. The females are white and almost translucent with two red lines along their abdomen, the males are dark (almost black) with white markings along their abdomen.
NOT Deadly Spider:
Would it surprise you to hear that this species is deadly to humans? Well, it should. They are completely harmless to humans. Some of you may remember an email hoax several years ago about a dangerous spider found in a restaurant bathroom that bit several people while they were doing their thing. The email claimed these people ended up dying.
Years later, that email was rewritten for the internet. This rewrite also changed the name of the spider to the T. dimidiata.
THIS IS NOT TRUE
I will say it again. These stories are NOT true.
Falsehoods like this can result in the deaths of otherwise harmless (to humans) creatures. We have said before that the goal of BFP is to create an awareness about how docile and helpful these guys are. Whenever we see stories like this, we feel it is important to correct the story line.
No doubt this story or one like it will make its rounds again. Please don’t believe it.
Some AWWWWW
On a lighter note, check out this video of a female dimidiata. She is beautiful!
Have a great #SalticidaeSunday everyone. If you have any requests of which species you would like to learn about next, please comment and let us know.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telamonia_dimidiata
http://www.natureloveyou.sg/Minibeast-Spider/Telamonia%20dimidiata/Main.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-two-striped-telamonia-spider-3299798
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/two-striped-telamonia-spider/
