Matthew Reed wrote:
I vote for a type of jumping spider. Short legs, highly mobile, fat abdomen.
I've never seen one like this, or this big before.


"Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal dot com nospam wrote in message
...
I found the weirdest spider on my porch (which is near my garden ). Does
anyone have any idea what this is? It has short legs, which eliminates most
spiders common to this area. It also has a very distinctive pattern on it's
back. Is this a good spider to move to the garden?

http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2006%...s/DSCF3580.jpg

The entire gallery is he

http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2006%...eird%20Spider/



I'd agree with the "jumping spider" description. How big was this one?
There is a common species Phidippus audax commonly called the "daring
jumping spider" (sounds like a phrase from a movie trailer) that is
found throughout most of N.A. These spiders get up to 15mm for females
with males being just a little smaller.

As for being good in a garden I think that every sort of spider is good
in a garden, even black widows and brown recluses although having many
of those around would make one more careful about reaching blindly into
a tomato plant feeling for ripe ones. I figure that spiders eat insects
and many insects eat plants therefore the more spiders the better.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com