Adriano Losso, Lockdown jumpers (Animal & Nature 2021)

I think I can safely say that jumping spiders are the Corgis of the spider world. Thanks to their eye pattern, which is characterized by two large eyes in the middle of the front row, the general audience find them extremely cute. During lockdown, I had the chance to explore more and more the parks around my house with a full focus on small critters. I wanted to dedicate these four images to the genus Opisthoncus, which includes the most encountered Jumping Spiders in Australian gardens. It is estimated that Australia has more than 100 Opisthoncus species, and only a bunch has been described. They normally are pretty easy to recognize thanks to a conspicuous bump in the middle of the carapace (head). As far as my IDing skills go, jumpers in these photos belong to the species O. sexmaculatus, O. serratofasciatus, and O. quadratarius. All four have been photographed in situ exactly where I found them. No need to disturb them more than necessary and it’s always good to see where they hang out.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.