Personal discovery motivates every naturalist and every so often we encounter the unexpected. The video seen here tells part of the story. In August of 2011 I came across a set of images on BugGuide of an unidentified jumping spider taken by Tom Adams in Marblehead, MA. The same species had also been photographed in Rockport, MA in 2010 by Peter Cristofono. Ryan Kaldari commented that although Cristofono’s photo was definitiely a jumper spider, it was a salticid he had not seen before. Subsequently my own curiosity and Gb Edwards’ prompting led me to Marblehead. With Adams’ help I was able to collect several of the mystery spiders, identified by Kaldari and confirming the first records of Hakka himeshimensis in North America. The publication describing this record includes a serendipitous ending – not in Marblehead, but in Cape May, NJ where later that year I found H. himeshimensis on the rocky embankments of the Cape May Canal.
Kaldari, Ryan, Edwards, G.B., and Walton, Richard K. 2011. First records of Hakka (Araneae: Salticidae) in North America. Peckhamia 94.1.

Massachusetts – First State / County Records