<p><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoBm_Hgjc6Y">Click here for the video!</a>
</p><p>Here is yet another fantastically beautiful male <i>Phidippus mystaceus</i> – discovered once again by the same friend who spotted <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/opoterser/3984515217/">this guy</a> while out bug-hunting with me last October. Bear in mind that I had spent a good three years searching for an adult male specimen of this species before he found that last one, and he has already inadvertently happened upon <i>two</i> this fall. Bitterness aside, I'm quite grateful – these spiders are an absolute joy to observe and photograph.
</p><p>There seems to be a fair amount of variation in the appearance of this species and the three <i>P. mystaceus</i> I've had the chance of photographing in this area of Oklahoma seem to be markedly different than other <i>P. mystaceus</i> I have seen in photographs (like <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://awesomespiders.com/album1_061.htm">this amazing male</a> photographed by J.H. Carmichael in Texas for example). The image above is a slight crop from a single image taken with my 50mm at f/16 reversed on a set of extension tubes.
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The females are possibly even more amazing – here is a small set of photos of an adult female I found a couple years ago: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/231103/bgimage">bugguide.net/node/view/231103/bgimage</a>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/7539598@N04">Thomas Shahan</a> from USA
CC BY 2.0
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/opoterser/5108328833/">Adult Male <i>Phidippus mystaceus</i> feeding on a Chrysopid – With Video!</a>