Most of us probably began to appreciate spiders when we read Charlotte’s Web. Charlotte was a rather ingenious orb-weaver who helped Wilber, the pig, communicate with Farmer Zuckerman to save him from market.

Orb-weavers like Charlotte produce beautiful symmetrical webs to capture their prey in flight. Their prey becomes entangled in the web and is eventually eaten by the spider.

Not all spiders use their ability to produce webbing in the same manner. There is a family of spiders, called jumping spiders, that use their web more like Spiderman. The Jumping Spiders, Salticidae, are the largest family of spiders. They attach their web to a solid surface and then pounce on their prey. If their prey escapes or they miss capturing it, they use the web as a bungee cord to break their fall and crawl back up to their perch to await the arrival of another victim.

Jumping spiders are generally easy to distinguish from other spiders by the arrangement of their eight eyes. They are arranged in two rows of four eyes. The middle two eyes of the front row (anterior medial eyes) are enlarged compared to the outer two eyes (anterior lateral eyes). The eyes of the back row are much smaller and less visible to the observer.

The connected head and thorax (cephlothorax) tends to be box-like in comparison to the abdomen. They have a relatively flat face as well.

I always enjoyed seeing jumping spiders in the apple and cherry orchards in the Wenatchee Valley, but my most vivid experience was when I was cleaning the rain gutters on our house. As I reached eye level with the roof edge, a large jumping spider was staring at me with those very large paired middle front eyes. She never appeared afraid of me, the intruder, and continued to stare at me while I began my gutter cleaning. I am not the only one to have experienced this behavior. Many spider enthusiasts have been observed by a jumping spider and had their movements followed by the spider.

These spiders are active during the day and have color vision. Most males display very interesting courtship rituals. The male is usually the primary initiator using a series of ritualized movements to convince the female that he is the right species and a suitable mate. He often displays colorful body parts to convince the female that she should mate with him.

photo by Timothy Dykes @ timothycdykes via Unsplash

Bob Gillespie, retired entomologist, was a faculty member at Wenatchee Valley College for 20 years. During that time he taught classes in agriculture, natural resources, biology, and outdoor recreation. During the last 12 years at Wenatchee Valley College, Bob also studied native bees associated with native plants bordering orchards with his students. Bob says “In retirement I want to help people appreciate the diversity and importance of pollinators and encourage them to develop pollinator habitats around their homes.”

R.A. Bradley. 2013. Common Spiders of North America. University of California Press. Berkley CA. 271 pgs.

PLEASE HELP SUPPORT

SALISH MAGAZINE

Salish Magazine contains no advertising and is free. Your donation is one big way you can help us inspire people with stories about things that they can see outdoors in our Salish Sea region.

We also don't advertise Salish Magazine, so please spread the word of this online resource to your friends and colleagues.

Thanks so much for your interest and your support. 

 We also don't advertise Salish Magazine, so please spread the word of this online resource to your friends and colleagues.

Thanks so much for your interest and your support.