This spider is common in the southern U.S., Mexico, Central America, and in many West Indies islands, especially Jamaica.

Late in the season Peucetia viridans is prone to change its colour from predominantly green to paler yellow, typically with streaks of reddish, suggesting degradation of the tetrapyrrole pigment in the blood.

Remarkably, one of her means of defense is to squirt (spit) venom from her chelicerae, sometimes for a distance of about a foot (300 mm).

The green lynx spider very seldom bites humans, and when it does, its venomous bite, though painful, is not deadly[3] but it has caused a 25 mm (0.98 in) surrounding swelling (edema) in one patient and lasted two days, and a 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) in diameter swelling in another patient.

[5] This species occurs in the southern United States, California, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and Venezuela.