| Frigga pratensis (Peckham & Peckham, 1885) |
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Scientific name: Frigga pratensis (Peckham & Peckham, 1885) Common name: French name: Order: Araneae Family: Salticidae Size: Biotope: Web: No web. Spiders of the Salticidae family chase by looking at preys with their big size eyes. They move by jumping. Observation period: Geographic area: Central America, Colombia, Trinidad. |
The following description is done based on drawings found on the web site jumping-spiders.com. Males show a cephalothorax with whited edges. It bears two broad dark blackish longitudinal bands which are touching at the front and drawing a thin central white longitudinal stripe. The abdomen is red with white edges and shows an elongated white cardiac patch. Females also show a cephalothorax with white edges and two broad blackish brown bands touching at the front and drawing a thin central white stripe. The dark bands are more blackish at the front and more brownish at the back. Two pale lines ahead of the upper eyes, and tapering at the front, draw like a V-shape. The abdomen, with white edges, is reddish at the front and black at the back. It shows a central longitudinal pattern made of a triangular white cardiac patch bordered with black at the back. It is followed by a wider white mark sometimes completely crossing the abdomen, and by an orange reddish longitudinal band reaching the tip of the abdomen and showing two small white spots on each side. I have not got any precise information on the other members of the Frigga genus. I have found pictures of Frigga coronigera, which is mentioned as present in Brazil, and Frigga quintensis, which is mentioned as present in Argentina and in Brazil. Both are showing many similarities with the description of Frigga pratensis given before. So it is difficult to tell more than Frigga sp. without a close exam of the genitalia. |
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I have shot this picture on the Îles du Salut (Islands of Salvation in English, in fact on the Île Royale). The abdomen is slightly damaged but this jumping spider is very similar to the drawing found on the web site jumping-spiders.com and dealing with Frigga pratensis. Having no precise information about the other members of this genus, I have just listed this one as Frigga sp. after having hesitated to list it as Frigga cf. pratensis. |
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Here is one of my very few correct pictures of a jumping spider taken without flash. You can usually see the reflection of the flash light in the spider's eyes. Here you can see my silhouette, on a blue sky background, leaning down to take the picture. |
André Bon March 2014
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