I recently had this jumping spider molt. This is the first time I've ever seen such a small spider do this - I've seen it with tarantulas plenty of times, and I figured all spiders had to do it as they grow, but I'd never even seen evidence of a small spider like this molting. Well, as it turns out, they do...

When I found him, he had already partially molted, and his legs and mandibles were already shed. I tried to photograph them, but they were tangled with some silk and I kind of made a mess of things trying to position them so I could shoot them. I got a couple useable shots (as long as you know what you're looking at)... and I must say those fangs certainly look impressive.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 400 and 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Then, I noticed that he hadn't fully molted - his carapace was still hanging on, and his abdomen had not yet shed. I tried to help a little, but wasn't very successful (I didn't want to hurt him in the process), so I resorted to returning him to his container with some piece of damp paper towel that would help raise the moisture/humidity so that his molt would loosen a bit.

However, before I did that, I noticed two things about this spider... First, this apparently isn't the first time I've worked with a spider of this species, as it is another one of these skull-faced jumping spiders that I'd photographed last summer.

And apparently the skull-face effect isn't the most fearsome thing about this spider... Due to his recent molt, the coloration on his face is very bright. It certainly makes me think of war paint.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

These spiders never cease to amaze me.

- Bill