A common and widespread jumping spider in most habitats along coastal eastern Australia including Tasmania. It is a flattish jumper with rather chubby front legs. The female has obvious white hairs on the pedipalps and a strong, yellow-banded pattern at the rear of the upper surface of the abdomen. Male subadults have horizontally banded palps. It displays a creeping cautious behaviour, often twisting the cephalothorax one way or the other while the abdomen remains stationary. In 1989 Val Davies and Marek Zabka felt this spider was not a true Breda, the other species of which come from South America, so they labelled it incertae sedis meaning not certain in its generic placement. In 2013 Ruiz and Brescovit revised the genus, giving the Australian representative a new home in Ocrisiona, pending further revision. Interestingly, jovial means pertaining to Jupiter, the Roman god of the sky. It was believed those born under the sign of the planet Jupiter are of merry dispositions. 1794.♀ 6mm ♂ 4mm
- Female from above
- Female, from Tasmania
- Female, from above
- Female, Girraween, near Stanthorpe
- Female, Girraween, near Stanthorpe
- Female in alcohol with epigyne and teeth
- Male from above
- Male, sub adult, North Queensland
- Male from above, The Gap, Brisbane
- Male North Queensland
- Male adult from above, North Queensland preserved in alcohol
- Male adult palp from side, North Queensland
- Male adult palp, North Queensland
- Male North Queensland adult palps
- Marptusa jovialis illustration by Koch
- References
Female from above
Female, from Tasmania
Female, from above
Female, Girraween, near Stanthorpe
Female, Girraween, near Stanthorpe
Female in alcohol with epigyne and teeth
Male from above
Male, sub adult, North Queensland
Male from above, The Gap, Brisbane
Male North Queensland
Male adult from above, North Queensland preserved in alcohol
Male adult palp from side, North Queensland
Male adult palp, North Queensland
Male North Queensland adult palps
Marptusa jovialis illustration by Koch
- Download PDF of Koch-Keyserling text - also includes drawings and text by Zabka and Davies
References
- Australian spiders (Araneae) : collection, preservation and identification / Valerie Todd Davies
- Dr Barbara Baehr - Profile on the Australasian Arachnological Society web site
- Dr Robert Raven - Senior Curator (Arachnida) Queensland Museum
- Dr Volker W. Framenau - Research Fellow - Short-Range Endemic Fauna, Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum
- Davies T. V., Zabka M. 1989. - Illustrated keys to the genera of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) in Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 27: 189-266
