Hasarius adansoni, also called Adanson's House Jumper, is a species of jumping spider common and associated with people in most of the warmer parts of the world. It is one of better described species of jumping spider in the world, having been described originally as Attus adansonii by Audouin in 1826, then redescribed in officially recognised literature another 86 times by 2012, often placed in other genera. The first placement into Hasarius was made by the French arachnologist Eugène Simon in 1871.^[1]

Distribution

H. adansoni is found in warmer climates around the world, for example Japan, Taiwan and Australia. It has also been introduced worldwide in greenhouses and similar places, for example in several German zoos. In China it is distributed in the provinces of Gansu, Guangxi, Guangzhou and Yunnan.

Appearance

male H. adansoni

female

Females grow up to 8mm, males up to 6mm.

The males are mostly black, with a red "mask" and pedipalps that are partly white. A white crescent is present on the back part of the abdomen, and another one on the front part of the opisthosoma. There are two small white dots on the posterior back, and two even smaller ones towards the end. These white areas - especially on the pedipalps - have a nacre-like iridescence.

Females are dark brown, with a lighter and somewhat rufous opisthosoma.

Habits

male H. adansoni retreat

These spiders build a silken retreat at night, which is are about twice the length of the animal. Although the same retreat is sometimes reused, others are built in the vicinity.

Male individuals have been seen to feed on immature females, although this may be by accident.

Name

The species is named after the French naturalist Michel Adanson.

References

• Audouin, V. (1826). Explication sommaire des planches d'arachnides de l'Egypte et de la Syrie publiées ... in "Description de l'Egypte...". Histoire Naturelle 1(4):1-339 (arachnids, pp. 99–186).
• Patoleta, B. & Zabka, M. (1999). Salticidae (Arachnida, Araneae) of Islands off Australia PDF
• Peng, X-J. & Li, S. (2004). The Jumping Spiders from Dali, Yunnan, China (Araneae:Salticidae). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 52(2):413-417. PDF
• Duffey, E. (1964). The Terrestrial Ecology of Ascension Island. The Journal of Applied Ecology 1(2):219-251. PDF