Lyssomanes viridis
I was down in Nashville last week and while doing some nature hikes I found this new spider species for me that I've never seen before. A "lifer" as the birders say.
This was an amazing nature find for me because even though this species is common and I found it in a backyard it was a welcome discovery that this little wild beast was living its life within our human sphere.
At first I thought it was a species of lynx spider (the Oxyopidae family) due to its long legs and general shape. But after researching online I found it was actually in the jumping spider family (Salticidae).
This spider is the Magnolia Green Jumping Spider (Lyssomanes viridis). The magnolia part makes sense since it's range is the southern United States which is also the range of the majority of magnolia trees in the country. They are found south of New Jersey and west to Texas. Looking at observations recorded on iNaturalist.com and Bugguide.net point to this species being fairly common. But for me it was a nice surprise. Jumping spiders are my favorite kind of spider. I feel like they are just very charismatic and have big personalities.
Here you can see it's eye configuration which fits the jumping spider setup rather than the lynx spider eye configuration (I'm still learning these).
Here is a spider eye diagram for the various families, you can see that the Oxyopidae have a second set of eyes below their large forward-facing eyes unlike the salticid jumpers.
Also take a look at those impressive long jaws! Those mean that this individual is a male. Another characteristic feature of this species is the orange-red scales on the top of the head which you can make out in these photos. The red also runs down along the jaws too. Also note the palps out in front of the jaws.
This spider was a little photo shy compared to some jumpers I've photo'ed but he came around and let me get some good shots eventually. I found him with another of the same species nearby (I think a female because she looked different and I don't remember her having prominent jaws like this guy). The other spider hid and escaped when I came around though and I couldn't relocate her. I suppose this fella stood his ground for his lady :P
Hope you enjoyed taking a look (or eight)!