Hi Rand, welcome to my parlor...don't trip over a web...
We have those too, except we call them "Jumping" spiders. Here's my little
spider glossary off the top of my head, I'm not using a book so the
definitions will be pretty rough.
Crab spider- lies motionless on flowers for the most part with outstretched
legs, usually has a triangular abdomen and colors that match its background
sometimes with bumps on its abdomen as well. Body including legs has an
outline that is wider than long.
Jumping spider- gets around with nervous, jerky movements and has large
constantly moving pedipalps. Has a head (actually it's a fused head/thorax
but the scientific name escapes me at the moment) wider and bigger than its
abdomen. Like its name suggests it frequently jumps from point A to B and
leaps on its prey. Males do quite fascinating little dances around females
flailing their arms about, it's something to see.
Wolf spider- What I refer to as the wolf spider is something I saw in
the forests back East. It's a big, dark brown ground spider that
doesn't build a web. The females carry their egg case beneath their
abdomen and the spiderlings ride piggyback on their mother. It's a
streamlined running spider over 2cm long I believe, although since I was
a kid at the time the dimensions might have been smaller. Like its name
suggests it hunts in packs and howls at the moon...:-)
Regards,
Demetrios