Brilliant jumping spider (Phidippus clarus)

The brilliant jumping spider is a spider in the family Salticidae that is not dangerous to people. GBIF holds 1,226 licensed U.S. records of it; it reaches our listing threshold in 45 states, most of all Illinois (139), Georgia (92) and Virginia (87). Its observation records peak in July.

45states on record

1,226licensed U.S. records

Julpeak month, observations

Novenomous to people

Phidippus clarus, also known as the brilliant jumping spider, is a species of jumping spider (family Salticidae) found in old fields throughout eastern North America. It often waits upside down near the top of a plant, which may be useful for detecting prey, and then quickly jumps down before the prey can escape. The spider is one of 60 species in the genus Phidippus, and one of about 5,000 in the Salticidae, a family that accounts for about 10% of all spider species.

From Wikipedia: Phidippus clarus, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Bitten? Call 911 for a venomous snakebite or any bite with trouble breathing. For advice on any bite or sting, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 (free, 24/7, U.S.-wide). Do not cut the wound, suck out venom or use a tourniquet. General information, not medical advice. Do not handle or try to identify a snake or spider by this page; if unsure, treat it as venomous.

Is the brilliant jumping spider poisonous or venomous?

Not in any medically significant way. Like almost all spiders the brilliant jumping spider (family Salticidae) has venom for its prey, but it is not a widow or recluse, the two U.S. groups whose bites need medical attention.

Which states have the brilliant jumping spider?

Records are spread over 45 states; the top three, Illinois, Georgia and Virginia, hold 26% of them.

Source: GBIF, read 2026-09-29. A state is listed once GBIF holds at least 10 records of the species there under any license; Records counts only CC0 and CC BY records, so a listed state can show fewer.
#	State	Records	Share of state spiders	Rank in state
1	Illinois	139	0.7%	14th of 243
2	Georgia	92	1.4%	19th of 186
3	Virginia	87	0.8%	32nd of 176
4	North Carolina	77	0.9%	29th of 184
5	Texas	64	0.2%	87th of 386
6	Maryland	53	0.9%	29th of 153
7	Oklahoma	46	0.9%	24th of 149
8	Minnesota	41	1.4%	18th of 145
9	Ohio	40	0.6%	43rd of 332
10	Florida	39	0.3%	48th of 237
11	Missouri	37	1.6%	14th of 117
12	New Hampshire	37	2.7%	10th of 72
13	Massachusetts	35	0.8%	30th of 189
14	Delaware	29	1.4%	18th of 71
15	Wisconsin	29	0.9%	23rd of 149
16	New York	28	0.5%	47th of 149
17	Kansas	27	1.6%	11th of 94
18	Vermont	27	1.7%	13th of 74
19	Arkansas	26	1.6%	18th of 114
20	Tennessee	26	0.7%	40th of 138
21	Pennsylvania	24	0.3%	50th of 164
22	Michigan	22	0.9%	26th of 122
23	South Carolina	20	0.8%	27th of 121
24	Colorado	19	0.5%	26th of 378
25	Oregon	19	0.7%	25th of 88
26	Kentucky	18	1.0%	29th of 103
27	Mississippi	16	1.1%	19th of 117
28	Alabama	15	0.4%	59th of 143
29	Indiana	14	0.3%	65th of 133
30	Iowa	11	1.6%	13th of 57
31	Louisiana	10	0.2%	61st of 107
32	California	8	0.0%	239th of 309
33	Maine	8	0.9%	28th of 297
34	New Jersey	8	0.4%	59th of 127
35	West Virginia	6	0.8%	27th of 90
36	South Dakota	5	2.6%	7th of 29
37	Connecticut	4	0.4%	42nd of 86
38	Montana	4	0.2%	42nd of 75
39	Washington	4	0.1%	81st of 157
40	Idaho	3	0.6%	26th of 56
41	Utah	3	0.1%	58th of 97
42	Nebraska	2	0.2%	66th of 71
43	New Mexico	2	0.1%	125th of 247
44	Rhode Island	1	0.6%	29th of 53
45	North Dakota	0	—	—

When is the brilliant jumping spider seen?

Across the U.S., observation records of the brilliant jumping spider run mostly May through August, peaking in July with 33% of them. Almost none are from December to February.

Season by state

Among states whose main season falls within one calendar year, it starts earliest in April (North Carolina and Texas) and latest in June (Illinois, Maryland and Ohio). The most common peak month is June, shared by New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma and Virginia.

Source: GBIF observation records (CC0, CC BY) by state and month, read 2026-09-29. States with fewer than 30 observation records with a month are left out.
State	Main season	Peak month	Observation records
Georgia	May through September	August	92
Virginia	May through September	June	87
North Carolina	April through September	August	77
Texas	April through August	July	63
Maryland	June through August	August	53
Oklahoma	May through August	June	43
Minnesota	concentrated in June and July	—	41
Ohio	June through August	June	40
Illinois	June through August	July	39
New Hampshire	May through July	June	37
Missouri	May through July	July	36
Massachusetts	concentrated in June and July	—	35

Where the brilliant jumping spider is recorded in each state

Illinois

Illinois holds 139 licensed records, the joint 14th most recorded of 243 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Illinois run mostly June through August, peaking in July; most licensed records come from Champaign County, Iroquois County and Cook County. Next come Lake County (7) and Jo Daviess County (5).

Georgia

Georgia holds 92 licensed records, the 19th most recorded of 186 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Georgia run mostly May through September, peaking in August; most licensed records come from Clarke County, Jones County and Oconee County. Next come Rockdale County (4) and Cherokee County (4).

Virginia

Virginia holds 87 licensed records, the joint 32nd most recorded of 176 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Virginia run mostly May through September, peaking in June; most licensed records come from Fairfax County, Hanover County and Prince William County. Next come Chesterfield County (4) and Albemarle County (4).

North Carolina

North Carolina holds 77 licensed records, the 29th most recorded of 184 spiders listed there. Its observation records in North Carolina run mostly April through September, peaking in August; most licensed records come from Cumberland County, Durham County and Wake County. Next come Cabarrus County (5) and Orange County (5).

Texas

Texas holds 64 licensed records, the 87th most recorded of 386 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Texas run mostly April through August, peaking in July; most licensed records come from Erath County, Dallas County and Tarrant County. Next come Brazos County (3) and Denton County (3).

Maryland

Maryland holds 53 licensed records, the joint 29th most recorded of 153 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Maryland run mostly June through August, peaking in August; most licensed records come from Prince George's County, Baltimore County and Frederick County. Next come Carroll County (6) and Montgomery County (4).

Oklahoma

Oklahoma holds 46 licensed records, the joint 24th most recorded of 149 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Oklahoma run mostly May through August, peaking in June; most licensed records come from Mayes County, Osage County and Carter County. Next come Cleveland County (2) and Comanche County (2).

Minnesota

Minnesota holds 41 licensed records, the 18th most recorded of 145 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Minnesota are concentrated in June and July (93% of them); most licensed records come from Hennepin County, Ramsey County and Dakota County. Next come Anoka County (2) and Mower County (2).

Ohio

Ohio holds 40 licensed records, the 43rd most recorded of 332 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Ohio run mostly June through August, peaking in June; most licensed records come from Montgomery County, Clark County and Clermont County. Next come Franklin County (3) and Hamilton County (3).

Florida

Florida holds 39 licensed records, the joint 48th most recorded of 237 spiders listed there. Most of its licensed records in Florida come from Okeechobee County, Hillsborough County and Orange County. Next come Collier County (3) and Osceola County (3).

Missouri

Missouri holds 37 licensed records, the 14th most recorded of 117 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Missouri run mostly May through July, peaking in July; most licensed records come from Adair County, DeKalb County and Texas County. Next come Platte County (3) and Jackson County (2).

New Hampshire

New Hampshire holds 37 licensed records, the joint 10th most recorded of 72 spiders listed there. Its observation records in New Hampshire run mostly May through July, peaking in June; most licensed records come from Hillsborough County, Rockingham County and Sullivan County. Next come Cheshire County (3) and Grafton County (3).

Massachusetts

Massachusetts holds 35 licensed records, the joint 30th most recorded of 189 spiders listed there. Its observation records in Massachusetts are concentrated in June and July (94% of them); most licensed records come from Barnstable County, Plymouth County and Worcester County. Next come Dukes County (4) and Middlesex County (4).

Top counties in the U.S.

Source: GBIF licensed records by county (GADM level 2), read 2026-09-29.
#	County	State	Records	Share of U.S.
1	Clarke County	Georgia	48	3.9%
2	Champaign County	Illinois	43	3.5%
3	Iroquois County	Illinois	30	2.4%
4	Hillsborough County	New Hampshire	20	1.6%
5	Cook County	Illinois	17	1.4%
6	Erath County	Texas	16	1.3%
7	Cumberland County	North Carolina	15	1.2%
8	Fairfax County	Virginia	15	1.2%
9	Hanover County	Virginia	15	1.2%
10	Prince George's County	Maryland	14	1.1%
11	Prince William County	Virginia	14	1.1%
12	Dallas County	Texas	13	1.1%
13	Mayes County	Oklahoma	11	0.9%
14	Osage County	Oklahoma	11	0.9%
15	Barnstable County	Massachusetts	9	0.7%

How recent are the brilliant jumping spider records?

Most of what is known about the brilliant jumping spider is recent: 86% of dated U.S. records were made in 2017–2026, and half date from 2022 or later. The oldest dated record is from 1912; the busiest year was 2025, with 189 records.

Source: GBIF licensed U.S. records with a year, read 2026-09-29.
Decade	Records	Share
1910s	1	0.1%
1920s	2	0.2%
1930s	6	0.5%
1940s	9	0.7%
1950s	7	0.6%
1960s	12	1.0%
1970s	2	0.2%
1980s	3	0.2%
1990s	72	5.7%
2000s	3	0.2%
2010s	171	13.6%
2020s	971	77.1%

Species recorded in the same counties

Of the 177 counties where the brilliant jumping spider is most recorded, 103 are also top counties for the black-and-yellow argiope, more than for any other spider. None of its closest neighbors is venomous.

Source: GBIF licensed records, top counties per species and state, read 2026-09-29.
Species	Shared counties
Black-and-yellow argiope	103
Bold jumper	95
Familiar jumping spider	88
Nursery web spider	86
Spotted orbweaver	86
Whitebanded crab spider	86
Rabid wolf spider	84
Arabesque orbweaver	76

Other species of the genus Phidippus with profiles here: Bold jumper, Putnam's jumper, Johnson jumper, Grayish jumping spider, Whitman's jumping spider, Apache jumping spider and Canopy jumping spider.

Bold jumperPhidippus audax

Putnam's jumperPhidippus putnami

Johnson jumperPhidippus johnsoni

Grayish jumping spiderPhidippus princeps

Whitman's jumping spiderPhidippus whitmani

Apache jumping spiderPhidippus apacheanus

Canopy jumping spiderPhidippus otiosus

GBIF records read 2026-09-29. Listed: any license. Counted: CC0/CC BY only. How we count.

About these numbers

A species is listed for a state once GBIF holds at least 10 records of it located inside the state by coordinates, under any license. Every count, share, month and county shown is computed only from records published under CC0 or CC BY, so a listed species can show few or no counted records. Monthly patterns show when people record spiders, which also reflects when people are outdoors. Venomous status follows taxonomy: pit vipers and coral snakes; widow and recluse spiders; the Arizona bark scorpion. Records filed under older names count for the species they belong to today. Full methodology.