Returning from the Borneo expedition, I can look forward to months of sifting through specimens, taking data from them, and analyzing.  We will be focused on what the specimens can tell us scientifically, but as we are doing this, each specimen will be a souvenir.  We will see the label and be transported back to that trail, to that day.

Even though I’m back in Canada, I have a few more blog posts in me, remembering the spiders and the trip.  The first of these: a rainbow.  You can find any color you want among the jumping spiders, and here, color by color, is a Bornean jumping spider rainbow.

Red: a female Sobasina. Her body is shaped like an ant’s, but her front legs are brilliant red.

Orange: The long spinnerets of this Uroballus are peachy-orange.

Yellow: This Telamonia female is brilliant yellow, red and white.

Green: This green Orthrus female is hard to spot on a leaf.

Blue: Like many other salticids that live on rainforest leaf litter, this little spotted Nannenus male has blue reflections. I suspect this color is an accidental byproduct of fine ridges that may help the skin repel water in its wet habitat. Ridges generate interference colors like blue and violet.

Violet: This melodramatic Orsima male has violet reflections on its first legs. Orsima males are always melodramatic.

Gold: At the end of the rainbow, a pot of gold, in the form of a male that is either Brettus or Neobrettus (I’m not sure which).

I am frequently breathless at the beauty of salticids, even after all these years. Each species I see for the first time is a jewel.