by Matthew Cobb
This high speed video by Sean McCann shows a jumping spider, Platycryptus californicus, leaping across the great divide at a small blowfly. Both the speed and the agility of the salticid are amazing. Poor fly. Think how quickly a fly responds when you try to swat it…
Platycryptus californicus is one of a number of related salticids that are found in the Americas. Despite its name, P. californicus is found throughout North America, including Canada. As salticids go, this is quite a large species, as this video shows:
More info and pics here.
h/t @bug_girl
I’ve always loved jumping spiders. Not only do I find them fascinating, I find them uniquely beautiful.
Agreed. I think they’re pretty much the arachnid version of adorable puppy dogs(or, as the blog owner would probably prefer, cats).
Some of the most interesting research about jumping spiders, including the kind of sensory information they use to perform such amazing feats of predation, comes out of Robert Jackson’s lab at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. His papers are usually quite readable. Google him if you’re interested in finding out more about these wonderful creatures.
I checked that out and it made me look for these ant mimicking jumping spiders which are interesting and terrifying all at once.
Cool, huh? There are more than 40,000 species of spider, so you can find evidence for most concepts in evolution all over the place once you start looking at them.
Even though I’m no spider fan, I actually like jumping spiders. There are several where I live and I saw one much bigger than the video – I find the really black ones can get fairly large and I saw one outside that must’ve had a bum that was 1 cm wide!
I’ve seen them jump on flies and they can jump amazingly far for their size and they are so fast!
Their fangs come in various pretty colours (greens and blues) as well.
You’re probably referring to daring jumping spiders, Phidippus audax. They have green or blue chelicerae, and can get fairly large.
I find they like to live in my mailbox, so I need to check the mail for stowaways before walking back to the house.
Yes those are probably the ones! I have the little zebra guys too (who I’ve seen try to get a big fly but end up flying with the fly) but I see a lot of the big black ones. I too find them in my mailbox. I think one summer the spider finally got fed up with being disturbed & just left. Word must’ve gotten around because I haven’t seen any this year.
Thanks for this video of one of my favorite of wee beasties. I’m so glad to know a little bit more about what they look like when they jump. I love what I think is their curiosity about their world. And they way they appear to study me when I look at them makes me smile and delight in the connection with another life form.
These little guys are all over the place where I live. I like them, they have personality…but they also have a habit of jumping at my FACE.
Which is still a million times better than stepping outside after dark and getting an orb weaver the size of a basketball in my hair.
Ha ha orb weavers are why I won’t walk in fields of long grass anymore!
I love spiders, but have a bit of latent arachnophobia that springs up unbidden at times.
Once while driving on a rural highway I noticed a jumping spider on the dashboard. “Cool, a jumping spider,” I think. Then it walked to edge of the dashboard directly in front of me and stood there facing me. “Hi spider,” I think.
Then it jumped to the top of the steering wheel and stood there looking at me.
Amazing how fast one can decelerate and pull over when motivated.
Thanks for all the interest! The spider is quite pretty in color as well: http://ibycter.com/2013/08/03/high-speed-imaging-of-jumping-spider/
She’s a cute looking spider too!
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.