Jumping spiders are among my very favorite animals, especially the brightly colored ones.   They look (and behave) like they're full of personality -- highly visual and alert, active, and seemingly unafraid.   They're aggressive predators that act like big cats: stalking prey and attacking in a leap or a rush, then biting and wrestling it into submission (sometimes they go for insects much bigger than themselves).   These photos show a very attractive adult male spider -- identifiable as such by his thin abdomen and large pedipalps under the 'face'.   It's probably Habronattus pyrrithrix, a small species (maybe 5-6 mm long) from southern California.   I took these photos in a colleague's lab at the University of California, Riverside.
            Images of other jumping spiders are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.