Sassacus vitis
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adult female, live; face view |
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adult female, live; dorsal view |
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adult male, live; dorsal view |
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adult male, live; lateral view |
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female genitalia; epigynum |
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male genitalia; palp, lateral view |
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male genitalia; palp, ventral view |
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grape size comparison with adult spiders; male (left), female (right) |
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egg sac with scale (cm) |
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spiderling, live |
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spiderlings, dead; dorsal (left), ventral (right) |
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diagnostic feature; iridescent gold abdomen |
Current valid name
Sassacus vitis (Cockerell) (family Salticidae)
Recognition and diagnostic features
Small jumping spider with iridescent gold abdomen and white ring around anterior surface of abdomen.
Spider
Body lengths when mature: male: 3.5 mm, female: 4.1 mm
Egg sac
Description: flat retreat-like sac, much longer than the spider's size, white silk, 6.7 ± 2.1 mm wide, 11.5 ± 3.7 mm long
Number of eggs per sac: 10.4 ± 4.9
Size of egg: 0.53 ± 0.029 mm
Time of year eggs are likely to be laid: March to June
Distribution
In California: most of state except northern portion
Elsewhere: western United States from Washington to Texas, also Mexico
Native to North America
This species has not been transported or become established outside of its range.
Biology
Diurnal hunting spider. Common in grapes; can be found in clusters where they also lay egg sacs.
Status in table grapes
Level of Incidence: very common
Level of Concern in New Zealand: WPNZ (May 2010) nr, BORIC (Dec 2011) R, MAF-BPRA (2002) nr (coding definition)
Level of Concern in Australia: WPAU (2006) nr (coding definition)
Level of Medical importance: none
Common name
None for species, jumping spiders for family
Taxonomic history
This spider was known as Metaphidippus vitis for many decades and is common in many agroecosystems, so the name M. vitis appears frequently in the literature. It was only transferred to Sassacus in 2008.
Commonly encountered synonyms
Metaphidippus vitis
Selected references
Richman, D. B. 2008. Revision of the jumping spider genus Sassacus (Araneae, Salticidae, Dendryphantiniae) in North America. J. Arachnol. 36: 26-48.
