Cosmophasis micarioides, commonly known as the Sparkling Northern Jumping Spider and the North Queensland Jumping Spider.
There are significant differences in the colour and patterns between the male and female Cosmophasis micarioides spiders. The male has black markings and iridescent bands of blue-green, and has a longitudinal mark on the abdomen. The female is orange-brown in colouring with lighter coloured bands of green and brown that lie across the abdomen. The females however, are quite variable, making the patterns less reliable for identification. The abdomen of the male is narrower than the female.
The Cosmophasis micarioides distinguishing feature is that stripes on the side of the head of both sexes reach down to the rim of the carapace.
When the male spider dances to attract the female, it bobs its abdomen up and down, reflecting sunlight that causes the characteristic sparkle.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Suborder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Salticidae
- Genus: Cosmophasis
- Species: Cosmophasis micarioides
Footnote & References
- Cosmophasis micarioides, Nth Brisbane QLD, Photographs © Connie Rac
- Cosmophasis micarioides (L. Koch, 1880), Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/Cosmophasis micarioides
SpidersIndex of Spider Images Spiders in Australia Spiders Index Araneidae — Orb Weavers Spider sac Arkys Australian Huntsman Spider Barking Spider Black House Spider Carepalxis sp Celaenia sp Cosmophasis micarioides Crab Spiders Deinopidae — Net-casting Spiders Dolomedes sp Dolophones sp Euryopis umbilicata (Superb Ant-eater Spider) Flower Spiders Gnaphosidae (Stealthy Ground Spider) Hackled Orbweavers (Uloboridae) Helpis minitabunda (Bronze Hopper) Herennia sp Jewel Spider Jumping Spider Long Jawed Spider (Tetragnatha sp) Lynx Spider (Oxyopes) Mangrovia albida Maratus Missulena occatoria (Red-headed Mouse Spider) Molycria burwelli Mopsus mormon Nicodamidae (Red and Black Spider) Nyssus coloripes (Orange-legged Swift Spider) Ogre-faced Net-casting Spider Poltys sp (Twig Spider) Scorpion-tailed Spider (Arachnura higginsi) Redback Spider Miturgidae Salticidae Tetragnatha Thomisidae Tiger Spider (Trichonephila plumipes) White-spotted Swift Spider (Nyssus albopunctatus) Wolf Spider
