Bug of the Week: Jumping Spiders

The jumping spider photos seems to be piling up, so maybe today would be a good day to use them.

jumping spider

Jumping spiders have two large round eyes on the front of their cephalothorax (we’d call it a head), as well as six smaller ones to the top and sides.

jumping spider

Jumping spiders are fairly tiny as spiders go. They sit on plants waiting for insect prey and when they see something, they jump with their stout legs.

jumping spider

Many jumping spiders are colorful. This one looks like a tiny zebra. or maybe that should be tiger…

jumping spider

This jumping spider had red markings on its abdomen.

jumping spider

It was trying to catch bees and flies coming to visit these large flowers.

jumping spider

jumping spider

Jumping spiders have retinas in their eyes, so the eyes change color as they look around. If their eyes go dark, they are looking right at you. Compare the eyes of this spider to the top one.

Have you seen any jumping spiders lately?

2 Comments

  1. Jessica

    Love this site! And to answer your question…yes! We have tiny zebra striped jumping spiders here. They are quite silly–so little & tiny & hopping around our property.

  2. Roberta

    That’s a great description 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.