Phidippus cardinalis is a species of jumping spider. It is commonly called cardinal jumper. It is one of the species of jumping spiders which are mimics of mutillid wasps in the genus Dasymutilla (commonly known as "velvet ants"); several species of these wasps are similar in size and coloration to the spiders, and possess a very painful sting. https://web.archive.org/web/20081228192715/http://www.arachnology.org/ISA/meetings/1998ISAabs.htm
Phidippus cardinalis occurs in the southern and eastern United States and Mexico, and possibly Panama. It has also been confirmed in Western and Northern Colorado.