Jim Fowler's photos with the keyword: spider

This morning, I went out into the front yard to check the bog garden. I saw a pair of Platanthera ciliaris or Yellow Fringed orchids just beginning to bloom. On the lateral sepal of one of the orchid flowers was a very tiny spider. I think it is a jumping spider of some type, but I don't know the botanical name. Any help with the identification will be appreciated... Thanks to Lou Orr and Lepanthes2010, I believe the spider to be an immature Phidippus audax or Bold Jumping spider of the family, Salticidae.

This morning, I went out into the front yard to check the bog garden. I saw a pair of Platanthera ciliaris or Yellow Fringed orchids just beginning to bloom. On the lateral sepal of one of the orchid flowers was a very tiny spider. I think it is a jumping spider of some type, but I don't know the botanical name. Any help with the identification will be appreciated... Thanks to Lou Orr and Lepanthes2010, I believe the spider to be an immature Phidippus audax or Bold Jumping spider of the family, Salticidae.

After consulting the past few days of weather records for the Pisgah National Forest, I determined that today would be a good day to catch this diminutive orchid in bloom. I let my flickr friend, Jim Petranka (Asheville, NC) know of the news so that he could plan to meet me there. Sure enough, they were in fine form, just beginning to open around 9:30 am. This turned out to be the largest "wave" of flowers so far this year, with many triple blooms to choose from.