New Species of Jumping Spider Discovered

[JohnKoerner]

OCALA JUMPING SPIDER ♀
 (Tutelina n. sp. from Ocala National Forest)
 Canon EOS 7D | Canon MP-E 65mm 1x-5x MacroPhoto Lens (@ 1.5x Life Size)
 3-Image Stack | 1/5 | f/7.1 | ISO 320
 Natural Light | Tripod | RRS MacroRail | Remote Switch

This species is (as yet) undescribed by science, but is now being classified under the genus Tutelina. It was discovered in the Ocala National Forest, in central Florida, and I was fortunate enough to be part of the expedition that documented its discovery.

This is a very small spider (~4mm), with unbelievable iridescence that is quite hard to capture! I have been trying to get a really nice "stack" sequence of it for publication, but so far a 3-stack image (using Adobe CS5) of this highly-active spider is all I have been able to accomplish under natural conditions.

Hope you enjoy

Jack


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[Chairman Bill]

Wow! Makes my local zebra spiders look positively dowdy & unintersting. They're not, but just the same ...

[JohnKoerner]

Wow! Makes my local zebra spiders look positively dowdy & unintersting. They're not, but just the same ...

Understood!

So far I have not been able, to my satisfaction, to capture the full-spectrum of the iridescence of this species. Its very iridescence means that some parts of the spider are dark and some parts reflect. Under normal lighting conditions, it seems that ssome parts of the spider are always under-exposed, whilst other parts are blown-out or over-exposed, with the rest being right in the middle. I am trying hard to overcome this anomaly!

To get the results I am after,I suspect that I not only will have to focus-stack, but that I will also have to alter my exposures for dark/highlighted areas of the spider (almost a HDR macro).

Cheers!

Jack


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[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Stunning as usual, Jack.

Next I expect to see you attaching a scanning elctronic microscope to your camera so you can get the really small critters. 

Eric

[JohnKoerner]

Stunning as usual, Jack.
Next I expect to see you attaching a scanning elctronic microscope to your camera so you can get the really small critters. 
Eric

LOL, thanks Eric

And, actually, I am considering purchasing a DIC microscope (and the associated photography attachments) to do just that

Jack



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[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Looking forward to your portraits of gnats' eyes.