Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
(unranked): Arachnomorpha
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Superfamily: Corinnoidea
Family: Corinnidae
Genus: Nyssus
Species: N. coloripes
Binomial name: Nyssus coloripes (name change 2015)
Synonym: Supunna picta
Common name: Spotted Ground Swift Spider, Fleet Footed Spider, Orange legged swift spider. Painted Swift Spider,
Fleet Footed Spider (Nyssus coloripes) is a small spider with a body length 6-7 mm and is found in Australia and New Zealand. It is often seen hunting on the open ground. It is a hunter and is very swift and hard to catch. It can run vertically up glass.
This spider is identified by its orange front legs and the notable white spots on its back and back legs. It is sometimes walking on three pairs of legs only, waving its front orange legs like an antenna. It is thought it may be mimicking wasps or in Australia, it is mimicking the Gum Tree Shield Bug nymph.
It was first found in New Zealand in 1943 and is now found in gardens and around houses in drier areas. It also occurs in open country where the grass is short.
It builds a retreat with a few strands of silk behind bark or other objects. The females make a flat disk-like egg-sac on a flat surface.
Bites of these spiders and others in the Corinnidae may cause mild local pain, redness and swelling.
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