There are many things to look for when trying to ID to species level any of the species of Phidippus. From abdominal markings, chelicera color, all the way to counting scales on their little heads. We'll start dorsal abdomen markings.
Phidippus abdominal markings
The first pic highlights the 4 main Phidippus "dots." They exist in a mirror, down the center lateral line. Spot "0" is the abdominal band, and whether it is present, broken, long, short, or absent.
The next three pics are all of Phidippus mystaceus females, found on the same tree, within a 15 minute time frame, suggesting close relation and high individual variability, not regional variability.
Since all are Phidippus mystaceus, I will use this species as the example. It goes...
0= Abdominal band is present
1= Split-DoubleDot
2=Split-DoubleDot with reaching abdominal line that does not connect
3= Reaching abdominal line that does connect to 4 or to each other
4= Split-DoubleDot
Now, you can see this pattern exists in all the pictured animals, even though there is more pattern on some. The underlying pattern still exists, and that is what is used to make the ID based on the abdominal markings. In this species, spot 2 can be especially confusing, as the double dots can sometimes be wrapped up in a large single dot. That is just noise and irrelevant to ID. The double dots within the big dot are what to look for.
This is relevant for almost all species of Phidippus
Phidippus spike scales
The spike scales on the carapace of an individual in the Phidippus species is extremely useful to Phidippus ID.
Pictured above is an adult female Phidippus putnami. She has 6 prominent spike scales on her carapace. Phidippus putnami, carolinensis, comatus, and some more have 6 spike scales. But most don't. Some just have 4 and some have none. Looking at these scales, the number, length, angle, can all help in IDing . These scales sometimes determine the species "group" which drastically cuts down the number of species that are in question, when looking at an individual animal.
Here are some more examples of Phidippus spike scale variations
Phidippus faces
Phidippus faces have a number of things to look at. The palp color, palp scales, palp annulation, chelicera color, presence or absence of "lip" scales, etc. The front legs are usually in focus on face shots, too, and the front legs can tell us a lot as well, especially in adult males.
Lets look at these two to compare. Both are adult male Phidippus sp, black heads and red butts. No real discernible abdomen pattern and both are lacking prominent spike scales. Both were found in grassland in Oklahoma, but they look different, so they must be different species. Lets compare face shots!
The first shot lacks white scales on the palps and front legs. This makes this individual an adult male Phidippus texanus (given all other IDing factors).
The second shot has white scales on the palps and has present white white on the front les, lacking much of the yellow of texanus. This makes this individual an adult male Phidippus princeps.
The wee little guide I will expand in the future. For now, it is just a gee-whiz here's what to look at type thing.
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What to look for when IDing Phidippus
