As I just reread and noticed the error tonight, I realize should probably let all of you know that I was interrupted when typing my original description. What I had intended to type was "coastally south of Santa Barbara". The omission of the word "coastally" implies that I believed that no Saliticids ranged here at all, and that's simply not the case. I couldn't find record of them intertidally north of Mexico or south of Santa Barbara. I knew they were abundant otherwise. That should clear up some confusion.

I also want to apologize to Ryan for overlooking (somehow!) the pedipalp image. Thank you for posting the links. Also, thanks for your suggestions. I have seen other Salticids in the same area, but higher up toward bluff base, not directly at the water's edge. They don't seem to range there.

As I wrote before, my main interest in this spider was not as much my inability to i.d., but in its hunting behavior and specific location. All the written descriptions I've found of coastal Salticids place them hiding among rocks, not hunting on freshly deposited kelp. The locals at San Pedro seem to have developed quite the taste for kelp flies. Have you encountered this before?

I haven't observed spiders hunting kelp flies before, but the only locations I've found T. californicus at are along sandy or rocky beaches very close to the shoreline. I usually find Habronattus further up on the dunes, although they are also known to occur in intertidal beach areas. One thing I've noticed is that T. californicus spiders seem to have little fear of people, unlike Habronattus which tend to be more skittish (and more difficult to collect).

Regarding the ID, beach spiders often vary significantly in appearance from beach to beach (especially the females), as they often match the coloration of the sand.

The location I've been visiting is just north of the lighthouse at Point Fermin in San Pedro. It's a rocky beach leading to tide pools. At high tide, the beach is covered. The spiders at this location may more closely match the color of the bluffs. They're fully visible on the rocks and kelp.

The spiders here are hiding in the kelp which both gives them no natural camouflage and sometimes limits their jumping ability. Instead of perching up high and leaping out at prey, they're snatching it from under cover. It's really interesting!

You're quite right that T. californicus have no fear. They're happy to stare down a camera lens. The only problem I can see with collection is the location they've chosen to hunt at. Kelp offers few flat surfaces, and lots of hiding places. Patience waiting for a stray to visit a rock would probably be the simplest approach. In the meantime, I'm happy to have at least added a juvenile, and new location, to the set of pictures here. Thanks!

Please see my comment below. I did see that the images are similar, but neither matches the scientific illustration and photo for T. californicus from jumping-spiders.com.

Did you perform a collection or just do a field i.d. from photo?

This is a male. The photo and first illustration at jumping-spiders.com are the female. In California, the main shoreline salticids are Habbronatus and Terralonus. You might also find a Phidippus johnsoni or Salticus scenicus, but these are going to be incidental. Terralonus californicus especially favors the intertidal zone, and this is the only area in which I have collected them. If you need further verification, please refer to: http://bugguide.net/node/view/584369. This includes a pedipalp photo which matches the illustration at http://www.jumping-spiders.com/php/tax_drawings.php?id=2721. Cheers!

I considered Habronattus as a possibility. I've also considered Terralonus. I posted here on BugGuide hoping that the behavior was something that would spark someone's i.d. cues.

So you know, I turned in a possible misidentification suggestion to you guys for Terralonus californicus. The images you have don't match with jumping-spiders.com. That site includes scientific illustrations as well as photos where available for the animals posted. I only noticed the conflict because the images are similar to my own.

I do realize that Salticids are common at shore lines. What I have not read about is them active hunting in freshly laid kelp even as the tide is receding. All the information I could find describing shore activity placed them on rocks higher up on the beach - not within close range of tidal flow. I realize this may simply be a case of "no one looked before" but since kelp (even castoff) is such an integrated part of California's coastal health, it's important to know what animals are using it as a resource, and in what way.

Thanks again for the suggestion. At this point, I've looked through all the Salticids posted here, and at j-s.com (along with a few other resources). I simply can't find this spider. I do know just how large the group is, so I'm trying my best.

At the very top of that page it states, in bold:

WAIT! STOP! If you want something identified and you have an image, you should instead post your image to ID Request.

This is exactly why I DIDN'T first classify what I knew to be Salticidae but had no species i.d. on, into a general classification and then use that thread for further info.

As far as I understood the site, I WAS following the instructions to leave the unidentified arachnids awaiting assistance. This is why I was so completely baffled by you choosing to generalize them for me after I chose not to. This was especially confusing when I read that I probably had as much arachnid i.d. info on hand as you do. That's not to be rude - you're just not a spider expert any more than I am, so it was honestly totally confusing that you would make that decision for me rather than make a commented suggestion for me to classify them myself.

The Arachnological Forum is a place for you to leave a message not an image. The image article I sent to your home email explains the best place to post images. Many times people who have general behavior questions will post their image then follow that up with a message on the forum page. A link back to the image or a thumbnail is usually provided.

I don't want to assume how much arachnid ID info you have on hand, but I can tell you I've been studying spiders with the help of experts for the past 5 years and I have an extensive library in both hard copies and digital PDFs. However, I have not started working on the jumping spider family for a couple of reasons 1) we have some really good experts already working on this site 2) I just don't have any more time to volunteer than I'm already contributing.

Feel free to move your images back to ID Request if you'd like, though I can't promise that someone else won't come along and move them back to the family page since that's the current practice of editors to help speed up the identification process.