About Phidippus cardinalis (Hentz, 1845)
Phidippus cardinalis (Hentz, 1845), commonly known as the cardinal jumper, is a species of jumping spider. This spider is one of the jumping spider species that mimic mutillid wasps from the genus Dasymutilla, which are commonly called "velvet ants". Several species of these wasps share a similar size and coloration with P. cardinalis, and have a very painful sting. Phidippus cardinalis is distributed across the southern and eastern United States, Mexico, and possibly Panama. It has also been confirmed to occur in Western and Northern Colorado.
