Jumping spiders comprise the famliy Salticidae, the largest and most diverse of spider families (ah, a melting pot), with between 4,000 and 5,000 species described. I love these little creatures. I find them all over my house. They aren’t leggy enough to trigger my arachnophobia, their turret heads remind me of tanks (always an endearing image), and those eyes look alien and intelligent. And they eat bugs (and sometimes web-weaving spiders). (Thanks Dear Thomas for beautiful text and photos)
Salticids are small (most are less than one inch long), and they can jump 10 – 40 times their body length to pounce on prey or to avoid becoming prey. They accomplish this using good ol’ fashioned hydraulics: they pump fluid into their legs quick enough to allow them to spring at lighting speed. Enjoy these photos. Click on some of them and you’ll almost be able to see the reflection of the camera in their central eyes.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Yeah. Me too, it doesn’t trigger my Arachnophobia. They’re cuddly.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:14 am
These are so cute hahah I don’t think I’d be scared of these ones if they showed up
October 26th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Aww! The first one looks like it’s smiling.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:57 am
The last one is interesting. I didn’t know there were species with a different configuration of eyes.
Arachnophobia is funny, I sort of understand it because I have acrophobia myself, and spiders are very alien looking to human eyes (a very good case could be made, though, that many other predators such as your common housecats are more evil than any spider…), but come on even the absolutely biggest ones can just be stomped on, and the most dangerous ones aren’t in any way the biggest or the most scary looking. But yeah then I remember how I feel in high places even with railings and such with no chance whatsoever of falling, so yeah I understand it.
I wonder what the original reason for it is, though, were there more dangerously poisonous spider species in the past… Or did humans just think they were dangerous in the first place and the fear comes from that even originally?
October 27th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Great photos! Although that last one is a wolf spider (Lycosidae) =P
October 27th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Me and my girlfriend both have very bad arachnophobia, but for some reason we find jumping spiders quite endearing. I’ll always leave them to their business if I see one.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
HF, I think you’re right in most ways… PPLs fear of spiders comes from theirs usually scary appearance: at a stance, 2 jointed legs casually bent, ready to intercept. Something about spiders in general that I just find disgusting. Except for these jumping jack flashes. They do look cute.
My high school biology teacher had a theory on dragons from mythological folklore that may apply here!!
Once our ancesters were merely critters fleeing mighty carnivorous Dinosaurs, and his theory were that modern humans even today carry around remnants of ancient panic triggers, to help us flee creatures that look like “dragons”/dinosaurs.
On that notion… I saw a Nat. Geo. series on dinos, from first era till the end, and there in one of the shows were mentioned a gigantic spider-like creature, over a half meter in diameter and with fangs bigger than a thumb.
When I read your post, I had these thoughts.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
…btw, spider no. 7 from the top looks like a ninja performing a high flying kick, ROFL
October 29th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
They still have 4 or more eyes… Uggggggggh!
October 30th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
There would be nothing cute about them if one showed up on my desk at work.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
the last one looks like jabba the hutt =)
i bet jesus was just playin with em, looking at em all close after he made em, like WOW you guys are neat!
…but man you sure are freaky so i think i’ll make you smaaaall….
October 31st, 2009 at 2:18 am
grant dear. these spiders are creepy.lol i would be scared.
November 4th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Cute! Even if the firs one is a fake: Only 2 instead of 4 “eyes” and there are other pics of this (same) little spider (on other sites), but on these, she’s not smiling of course. However, nice made
November 5th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Look at those cute little eyes! So adorable! XD
November 9th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
the 1st one was cute but the rest … not so much..
also the rest of the eyes on the 1st spider are on top of his head. look closely you can just barely see them.
December 8th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
They are still spiders! And they jump reeee-a-a-a-l-l-l-l-y far & really fa——st( Now where did that @$*&) go!!!! Instant death if I think I can get them the first time!!!!! Orb weavers have a better chance with me!!!!!
January 5th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
@DaveStudent:
Your *biology* teacher said that humans ran from dinosaurs and that is why we have mythology about dragons??!!
Dinosaurs died out ~65,000,000 years ago. The first arguably humanoid ancestors of Homo Sapiens appeared ~1,000,000 years ago.
Dinosaurs and hominids *never* had a chance to interact!! No biology teacher worth his or her salt would say something like what yours did!
January 15th, 2010 at 12:16 am
I think the first one is the scariest; kind of like “look at how cute i am, come play with me, I don’t bite, I promise”. If spiders evolved to look cute to humans, I would be extremely scared that they are now super intelligent beings, and hunting us; my two least favorite traits in non-humans. One or the other is fine, but not both.
January 15th, 2010 at 8:46 am
I can’t believe that Dave Student has such an ignorant Biology teacher. This teacher either knows he’s wrong but wants to use a mythological approach about our fear of the spiders, or he really is ignorant by nature…
I wanted to know if the first spider was a fake one, ’cause i’ve seen many jumpy spiders and I’ve never found one as cute as this one.