About Phidippus adumbratus Gertsch, 1934
Phidippus adumbratus Gertsch, 1934 is a species of jumping spider that belongs to the family Salticidae. It occurs in the United States and Mexico. The type specimen was collected in Los Angeles, and the species was formally named in 1934. Phidippus adumbratus is part of the insignarius species group of the genus Phidippus. Within the United States, this spider is found in the California Floristic Province, where it lives in native chaparral and oak-sycamore-chaparral woodland at elevations between 500–3,700 ft (150–1,130 m). A 1999 published spider survey recorded Phidippus adumbratus in coastal sage scrub near San Diego, California. A 2022 published spider survey report documented individual spiders in the Central Desert ecoregion of Baja California on the Baja California peninsula, at locations including Sierra Blanca, Ensenada Municipality, Mesa Escondido and San Antonio de Las Minas. The species' Latin specific epithet adumbratus comes from the Latin adjective meaning "secret, in the dark". This name may be a reference to the fact that the abdomen of the holotype specimen was missing, leaving the original describer "in the dark" about its full appearance. According to BugGuide, zoologists often use the term adumbratus to refer to a "hazy dark pattern".
