hey, i live in colorado. im wondering what kind of spider this is. seems like it isnt poisonous or dangerous, i was first surprised by its size, about the size of the upper part of my thumb. all black body with three brown "spots" and kinda brownish legs. this is my first post, so if you need more pics or bigger ones let me know. thanks.
This message was edited Jun 5, 2010 9:06 PM
This is a jumping spider (family Salticidae) in the genus Phidippus; it appears to be a fine, fat (likely gravid) female Phidippus audax, one of the larger and more common North American species in this family - see http://tinyurl.com/dxkmyj. One this large would be capable of inflicting a painful (but not dangerous) bite if mishandled.
thank you suunto, fascinating info. ive seen other jumping spiders around but this one is so much bigger. i was going to guess a "web spinning" spider as it was around some webs, but it seemed to have excellent eyesight characteristic of jumping spiders.
