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Photo#614762
Salticid? - Habronattus tranquillus

Salticid? - Habronattus tranquillus
Saguaro National Park West, Pima County, Arizona, USA
April 14, 2011
When he felt threatened by my camera he imitated the shape and position of Mesquite thorns with his legs. More extreme and rigid when I bothered him more

Images of this individual: tag all
Salticid? - Habronattus tranquillus Salticid? - Habronattus tranquillus Salticid? - Habronattus tranquillus

Moved
Moved from Jumping Spiders.

Wonderful series of photos . . .
Also interesting comments on behavior.

It may be the case
that this is just a normal defensive posture for a spider, and that it was only the nearness of the thorns that caused you to assume a mimicry. "Look How Big I Am"

 
He succeeded in making me think
that he was a crab spider at first. Even though I shouldn't have glibly implied that he's imitating anything, even a widespread defense behavior could probably evolve into something else. Given that that these spiders live in an environment that has NO shrubs without thorns, the effect of pose, location, pattern is probably cryptic to larger observers like birds or lizards or me, but who knows what a spider wasp or assassin would see. Maybe they fall for the 'look how big I am'. I was just struck by the difference between this one and the usual in-your-face (or lens) behavior of jumping spiders.
Also note that he was not trying to face me (which is usually part of the defensive pose)

 
Yes, great points
I raise a lot of spiders and I assume the crabs do it more due to their slow speed (if I can't run away fast I better pretend I'm big) vs. other spiders that are quick and just run away. I have had a few jumpers that I had difficulty photographing because they kept jumping on the lens. You make a great point about the evolution of mimicry, it has to start somewhere! Like spiders mimicking ants waving their legs as antennae, did that come from this behavior or from a courtship dance? Did the courtship dance itself come from the defensive 'look how big I am'?

 
Yes
that's where speculation becomes interesting. Lot's of courtship moves in birds and mammals can be traced back to behavioral elements from other contexts (often aggression)

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Yes
Yes based on the position of the eyes it is a jumping spider. Interesting behavior.

 
Going through the Hentzia
images, I see several with a hint of the behavior and the leg shape, but H. in BG seems strictly eastern (I have no literature here to verify the distribution)

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