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Earth Notes: Jumping Spiders

An adorable spider looking straight at the camera. He has four eyes, two really big ones facing forward, a red fuzzy head, and brownish fuzzy legs. The background is green.
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Jumping spider

Jumping spiders are common on the Colorado Plateau but are also found worldwide in habitats from the tropics, to deserts, to intertidal zones, to high mountains. These daytime predators are great leapers — some can jump nearly 40 times their body length.

Jumping spiders have four pairs of eyes, including a large, forward-facing pair, which gives them a “Muppet-like” appearance and provides them the three-dimensional vision they need to locate and precisely estimate the distance of their prey before pouncing.

They use silk safety lines when jumping. When prey are detected, they swivel their heads toward it and begin stalking. When close enough, they attach the silk safety line before their leap. If the attack fails, they climb back up the thread. Their stalking behavior can be surprisingly complex. Some jumping spiders have been observed taking long detours down to the ground from one bush and up another bush to get to their prey. Some invade the webs of other spiders, carefully vibrating the web to mimic the struggles of an ensnared insect, then attacking the host spider when it approaches.

All those adaptations make jumping spiders extremely agile and highly successful hunters. And many are colorful, too, with dazzling, iridescent blues, greens, yellows and reds.

If you're lucky enough to encounter a jumping spider, it's not hard to capture one momentarily for a closer look- especially since these spiders often step in closer to see you, too.

This Earth Note was written by Steve Schwartz and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.

Steve first came to Flagstaff in the late 1970s to study at Northern Arizona University, where he obtained a master’s degree in biology, and he feels fortunate to have been able to call Flagstaff home for over thirty years. Recently retired after a long career in healthcare administration, his retirement allows him to spend large amounts of time exploring the rich diversity of the Colorado Plateau. Steve considers himself a lifelong learner and he can often be found exploring with his two dogs, Quinn and Rosie, indulging his passions for biology and the natural world.
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