- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Hi, I'm a jumping spider.
I see that you found me on the tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica.
I'm just here for the prey, and you are definitely not prey, so not to worry.
I'm a member of the Salticidae family and my family contains more than 600 described genera and more than 6000 described species. I have eight eyes. Actually, that's four pairs of eyes and three secondary pairs. How many eyes do you have? What, only two? You got robbed!
I'm a pretty good hunter. When I detect a potential prey, I orient myself and swivel. When I'm close enough, I pause and attach a dragline and then I sprint onto my prey. Pretty cool, huh?
People don't really notice me until Halloween and then they craft those awful-looking sticky webs and all kinds of weird looking spiders just to scare everybody. Do you need scaring? Please be kind and not yell at me or throw things at me. Think of Halloween as "Be-Kind-to-a-Spider Day."
So, if you see me, a real rendition of the fake Halloween spider, don't poke me or crush me or ask me how high I can jump. Or how far. I don't get into logistics.
I'm just here for the prey, not the questions.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
There's a good reason why jumping spiders are named "jumping spiders."
They jump.
A jumping spider, according to National Geographic, can jump 50 times its body length.
We saw this jumping spider (family, Salticidae and probably genus Phidippus) in our flower bed last weekend.
Perched on a pink petunia, it waited for dinner, its four pairs of eyes surveying the floral menu; its rear legs poised to jump; its front legs ready to grasp unsuspecting prey. Meanwhile, its iridescent chelicerae glistened in the sunlight.
Wikipedia says that "the genus name is likely derived from Cicero's speech speech Pro Rege Deiotaro (Speech in Behalf of King Deiotarus): Phidippus was a slave who was physician to King Deiotaros. Literally, the word means 'one who spares horses' in Ancient Greek."
One thing's for sure: A hungry Phidippus would not "spare" a bee! Check out this National Geographic video on You Tube about a jumping spider and a honey bee.
