We live in Southern California and happened upon this beauty yesterday in the car. Moved like a jumping spider but the coloring is so unique. We didn't kill it - let it go after taking the photo. It played dead for a couple of minutes and then ran away.
It's one of the Jumping Spiders in the Phidippus family similar to this one...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/338136
Possibly Phidippus adumbratus - http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/spiders/Phidippus%20adumbratus.htm
These are such fascinating spiders. I'm glad to see when others are entertained by jumping spiders. They are so fun to observe and interact with. The other posters are correct in calling this a Phidippus sp. but if I may kindly point out, Phidippus is a genus, not a family. Jumping spiders belong to the family Salticidae. Nice find!
The hazards of posting while tired. Thanks for the correction, FP.
I love interacting with the Jumpers. They seem so interested in what we're doing.
