Hi, Lynette-

Take a look at my notes and the article reference on http://bugguide.net/node/view/185504/26091. I'm reclassifying my own image for now as H. mitrata, based on sizes given and comment about "carapace red-brown, eyes ringed with black" for H. palmarum.

What do you think? (I ask, because I used this image initially as the basis for my own identification.)

Eyes ringed in palmarum will be a great way to separate these two if I can figure out exactly what to look for. (Your source also mentions that in palmarum the AME eyes are ringed with brown.) Exactly which eyes are the AME eyes on a jumping spider? Here are a few spiders in the genus that have ringed eyes....the problem is I never see any black. I always see brown. Also the first image has the two outside eyes ringed and the middle ones are not. I'm also worried that I would not be able to see the rings on the back of the carapace because those eyes are so small.

Hi, Lynette-

Yes, I do quite agree with your view of the problem. Did you catch Jeff's comment attached to my link above? Despite Richman's description (see also his comments on variability), the general impression I gathered from this is that the two (females, at least) can't really be visually separated.

I suspect that for the purposes of BugGuide (not everyone who photographs a female Hentzia is going to want to "send it in" for genital examination); in light of this, do you think it might be wise to create a "palmarum/mitrata" group -- if that is the correct BG procedure? (Seems like I've seen something similar here already.) I;m only asking, as I really don't have enough experience with them (having only examined exactly _one_ specimen in the flesh).

-K

I think that's a good idea. A few exceptions for images already in the guide are the ones where the female was found in the vicinity of the male which is easier to identify. This may take some work. I'll have to revisit this when I have a larger block of time to go through the images thoroughly. (and no I didn't see Jeff's comments, where are they?)

Sorry, _Jay's_ comments (oops, don't want to do than again). :-\

The body shape, eye configuration, and color pattern all look like they match. Thanks Lynette.