Tiny Hopper - NH 015

NH 015

Jumping Spider

Category: Arachnids

Family: Salticidae

I was going to post up a my really good spider up today but haven't had time to photograph it right, but I haven't forgotten Spider Saturday so I'm presenting the smallest vial in the collection today. I don't have too much information on this particular specimen. At the moment I only have the family name (Salticidae), which is the grouping for jumping spiders. More unfortunate news is that this guy was collected before I was keeping good tabs on collection dates and localities, thus there is very little exact information on it.

Jumping spiders are active hunters. So instead of building a web and waiting for prey to get caught, they go out and will scour for food. They can jump several times their body length (forwards and backwards) and while they don't have webs they still do have silk that they anchor to the ground before they jump so in the event they end up falling a great height they will be able to climb back up to live another day. What's also interesting about this family is that they are very curious creatures, especially when it comes to humans.

This jumping spider was found above the mirror in a bathroom in Baker Tower, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA sometime in early-mid September 2010.