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Here is yet another fantastically beautiful male Phidippus mystaceus – discovered once again by the same friend who spotted this guy while out bug-hunting with me last October. Bear in mind that I had spent a good three years searching for an adult male specimen of this species before he found that last one, and he has already inadvertently happened upon two this fall. Bitterness aside, I'm quite grateful – these spiders are an absolute joy to observe and photograph.

There seems to be a fair amount of variation in the appearance of this species and the three P. mystaceus I've had the chance of photographing in this area of Oklahoma seem to be markedly different than other P. mystaceus I have seen in photographs (like this amazing male photographed by J.H. Carmichael in Texas for example). The image above is a slight crop from a single image taken with my 50mm at f/16 reversed on a set of extension tubes.