A species of spider commonly found in India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Myanmar, and China, Carrhotus viduus belongs to the genus of jumping spiders first established by Thorell in 1891.
The arachnid in the picture is a male, two characteristic white stripes running along its back. The female has an overall orange body with yellow and black markings along its body and abdomen.
These spiders have legs covered in black hair. An adult male can grow up to 7.1 millimetres, and the female 9 millimetres.
They are fast moving creatures who love thick vegetation and you can often find their nests in woodlands amongst thick shrubs. Like all spiders they too produce silk for various purposes and the most common one is for their web which aids them in catching their prey, protecting eggs and wrapping the prey. Being in thick vegetation they have access to freshly caught prey that they feed on. This variety of a spider is often found in the plants in our garden.
