Flat Jumper

A tiny glint of metallic green caught my attention as I filled the watering can from the big holding tank. Almost invisible on the grey pipe insulation was this crevice jumping spider, also called the flattened jumping spider, belonging to the Holoplatys species. The victim is a green longlegged fly of the Parentia species. Both are native to New Zealand.

I was pleased to see this spider as they usually hang out in crevices or cracks in wood.  A few years ago a photo I took of a similar one (not blipped) was chosen by the Museum of NZ as an example of the species for identification purposes. As with other jumping spiders it has a pair of big eyes in front in a row with two others, and more eyes on top.  It was about 1 cm long.