Unknown multi-coloured spider

[Bobbyyy]

Hello all - I'm new to the forum but hoping someone can help me identify a spider I spotted last summer in Derby.

I was in a hurry at the time and had no camera but will do my best with a good description.

It was about the size of a two pence piece (20-25mm) including its legs.

It was jet black and very dumpy and chunky, it was wet at the time so cant really say if it was matt or shiny, looked shiny but as I say it had been raining and it was wet.

It was the colouring on its abdomen the made me stop and take a closer look at it. It seemed to have perhaps 20 coloured dots (1mm) in yellow, red and blue (never seen blue on a spider before!) and perhaps green, not 100% sure about the green.

I was reminded of it when I saw a ladybird spider on the news recently - its build was very similar but the spider I saw appeared to have a tougher looking body.

I'm not really a spider fan but this was so unusual it made me stop in my tracks - it looked like something you would expect to see abroad, not in the UK.

Not sure if it makes any difference but it was a very urban environment - very little by the way of trees or grass.

Would be glad of any suggestions and sure I could ID it if I saw a picture but not found anything on the Web (guess that jokes been done a million times here !

Hopefully, bobbyyy.

[Wild-Woman]

Wouldn't like to even guess at this one but you could have a look in our spider Gallery to see if you can see something that looks anything like it. Spiders, unless they are really obvious, can be tricky to identify and can call for expect id under a microscope.
If you have a picture it would help?
Welcome to WAB.

[htcdude]

Sounds very odd! I tried having a Google search for multi-coloured spider abdomens, but didn't get much

Maybe it's a new species?? The Polka Dot Spider

[Geoff F]

Not sure that I can match those colours although reflections from a wet surface may be part of the explanation.

However, a dark dumpy spider with spotting on the abdomen.

Try looking at Jumping spiders, Salticidae, possibly one of the Sitticus species.

Wolf Spiders (Lycosidae), Pardosa or as a long shot Pirata species, although considering the location I rather doubt the latter.

And I suppose Theridiidae particularly Steatoda species may be worth considering.

A rather dark Araneus species (Araneidae) would definitely be worth considering.

Some of the Linyphiidae family may fall into the dark with pale spots area although most of them aren't exactly 'dumpy'.

Any other information, like was it in a web, would be helpful. But I think it will just be a case of searching until something similar is found.

You could try this identification chart http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spider...tion-chart.htm

Or here http://www.jorgenlissner.dk/families.aspx

[Bobbyyy]

Thanks to all three of you for the quick responses.

Had a look round the Gallery and at all of Geoff Fs suggestions and I'm about 95% certain it was a jumping spider. The only thing that rings alarm bells is its size - mine was 20-25mm, not sure from what I've read if the other jumpers get that big.

Salticidae

I could have been mistaken about the colour, it was in the carpark of my flat, perhaps diesel mixed with rain could have given it its distinctive look

I wish I'd had a camera, even went back later when I did looking for it but no joy.

I'm still pretty sure of my description so maybe I will just have to keep looking.

Maybe it's a new species??

Does this happen a lot? Would hate to think I missed out on discovering the 'jumping Polka Dot', that would be cool

Once again thanks for your repsonses - some tremendous pictures in the WAB Gallery, wasted a good few hours looking through them

[Geoff F]

The average female jumping spider is around 6 or 7 mm body size (excluding legs) which is the normal way of measuring spiders.

So once you include legs it would probably just about fit your description.

There are around 70 species of European Jumping Spiders and several thousand occur worldwide.