Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family Salticidae. As of 2019, this family contained over 600 described genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders at 13% of all species. Jumping spiders have some of the best vision among arthropods and use it in courtship, hunting, and navigation. Although they normally move unobtrusively and fairly slowly, most species are capable of very agile jumps, notably when hunting, but sometimes in response to sudden threats or crossing long gaps. Both their book lungs and tracheal system are well-developed, and they use both systems. Jumping spiders are generally recognized by their eye pattern. All jumping spiders have four pairs of eyes, with the anterior median pair being particularly large.
Maevia inclemens or the dimorphic jumping spider is a relatively common and colorful jumping spider of North America. In the males there are two forms, a very rare phenomenon in zoology. These use different courting displays, and differ in appearance: the "tufted" morph has a black body and pedipalps ("palps"), three black tufts across its "head", and pale legs; and the "gray" morph has black and white stripes all over its body and legs, orange palps, and no tufts. However, each form accounts for 50% of the adult males, and they are equally successful in mating. A female of Maevia inclemens is 6.5 to 8.0 millimetres long, while males are 4.75 to 6.50 millimetres long.
Menemerus bivittatus is a spider in the family Salticidae commonly known as the gray wall jumper. It is a pantropical species and is usually found on the walls of buildings or on tree trunks where it stalks its prey.
Phidippus clarus, also known as the brilliant jumping spider, is a species of jumping spider found in old fields throughout eastern North America. It often waits upside down near the top of a plant, which may be useful for detecting prey, and then quickly jumps down before the prey can escape. The spider is one of 60 species in the genus Phidippus, and one of about 5,000 in the Salticidae, a family that accounts for about 10% of all spider species. P. clarus is a predator, mostly consuming insects, other spiders, and other terrestrial arthropods.
Portia fimbriata, sometimes called the fringed jumping spider, is a jumping spider found in Australia and Southeast Asia. Adult females have bodies 6.8 to 10.5 millimetres long, while those of adult males are 5.2 to 6.5 millimetres long. Both sexes have a generally dark brown carapace, reddish brown chelicerae ("fangs"), a brown underside, dark brown palps with white hairs, and dark brown abdomens with white spots on the upper side. Both sexes have fine, faint markings and soft fringes of hair, and the legs are spindly and fringed. However, specimens from New Guinea and Indonesia have orange-brown carapaces and yellowish abdomens. In all species of the genus Portia, the abdomen distends when the spider is well fed or producing eggs.
Menemerus zimbabwensis is a species of jumping spider in the genus Menemerus that lives in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska first described the female in 1999 and the male in 2007. The spider is large, with a cephalothorax that is between 1.9 and 3.2 millimetres long and an abdomen that is between 2.1 and 4.6 millimetres in length. The female is larger than the male. It also lacks the light stripe down the centre of its dark brown carapace and has a less distinct pattern on its abdomen. Its legs and pedipalps are yellow, while on the male they are brown. The male can be distinguished from the similar Menemerus nigli by the wide stripe on its abdomen. The female is harder to identify without looking at its copulatory organs. These are distinctive. It has characteristic large entrance bowls on its epigyne, which are larger than the insemination ducts and spermathecae combined. Its internal organs are very sclerotized.
Menemerus soldani is a species of jumping spider in the genus Menemerus that lives in Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia. It was first described in 1826 by Jean Victor Audouin. He identified both the male and female but not in much detail and it was not until 1999 that a thorough description was completed. This led to confusion, with many museums holding examples of different species labelled Menemerus soldani. When the female was described by Hippolyte Lucas and Wanda Wesołowska, they were designated as different species, both of these being declared junior synonyms by subsequent arachnologists. The spider is small, with a total length between 3.11 and 5.65 mm, and has a brown carapace, yellow abdomen and orange legs. The spiders have characteristic copulatory organs. The female has a characteristic semi-circular notch at the rear of its epigyne while the male has a large bulbous patellar apophysis that other species in the genus lack. The male has a flat projection or apophysis on its pedipalp tibia. The spider lives in palm groves and Quercus suber forests.
Evarcha flagellaris is a species of jumping spider in the genus Evarcha that lives in Kenya and South Africa. The species was first described in 2011 by Charles Haddad and Wanda Wesołowska. The spider is small, with a carapace measuring between 2.0 and 2.4 mm long and an abdomen between 1.9 and 3.6 mm long. The female is larger than the male, particularly in the size of its abdomen. Both have stripes on the abdomen, the male being more distinct with four brown stripes contrasting with a yellow background. This is similar to the related Evarcha striolata, from which it can be distinguished by the presence of an orange scutum. It can also be identified by its copulatory organs. The female has very wide looping insemination ducts that lead to heavily sclerotized multi-chambered spermathecae. The male has a long straight projection from its tibia or tibial apophysis and a whip-like embolus. It is after the latter feature that it is named.
Evarcha maculata is a species of jumping spider in the genus Evarcha that lives in Guinea, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia. It has been found in savanna in the Guinea Highlands and near bodies of water like the Awash River. The species was first described in 2002 by Christine Rollard and Wanda Wesołowska. The spider is small, with a cephalothorax measuring between 1.7 and 2.3 mm long and an abdomen that is between 1.6 and 3.6 mm long. The female is generally larger than the male, although there are exceptions, particularly amongst those found in Guinea. The cephalothorax has a yellowish topside, or carapace, with a darker eye field, and an yellow or yellowish-orange, or sternum. The abdomen has a distinctive pattern that is basically shaped like a capital "H", referred to in the species name, which can be translated "spotted". The spider has orange or yellow legs. It has distinctive copulatory organs. The female has distinctively shaped insemination ducts. The male has a very short curved embolus.
Evarcha improcera is a species of jumping spider in the genus Evarcha that is endemic to Yemen. The species was first described in 2007 by Wanda Wesołowska and Antonius van Harten. Only the female has been described. The spider is small, with a broad carapace that measures typically 2.2 mm (0.09 in) long and a narrower oval abdomen that is typically 1.8 mm (0.07 in) long. The spider has a whiteish-yellow pattern on its otherwise brown abdomen, which consists of a large patch at the front, a stripe down the middle that meets another stripe in a cross shape, the bottom arm of which consists of a series of closely tessellating wide chevrons. The species can be distinguished from others in the genus by its copulatory organs, particularly its small bean-like spermathecae, or receptacles, and the position of its accessory glands.
Evarcha seyun is a species of jumping spider in the genus Evarcha that is endemic to the Arabian peninsula. It seems to be common across many of the Emirates of the United Arab Emirates and the Al Mahrah and Hadramaut Governorates of Yemen. The species was first described in 2007 by Wanda Wesołowska and Antonius van Harten. The spider is small, with a cephalothorax that measures between 2.2 and 2.6 mm long and an abdomen that is between 2 and 2.7 mm long. The female is hairier than the male. The female spider is generally brown with a darker eye field, while the male is dark brown with a black eye field. Both have legs that are black, orange and yellow. They can be distinguished from the closely-related Evarcha praeclara by the patterns on their body, including a semi-lunar marking in the middle of its carapace and a light stripe on its abdomen. The species also has distinctive copulatory organs. The female has a characteristic depression in the middle of its epigyne and narrow insemination ducts that lead to complex spermathecae. The male has a spade-like apophysis that accompanies its embolus and a short blunt tibial apophysis.
Evarcha praeclara is a species of jumping spider in the genus Evarcha that lives in Iran, Israel, Southern Sudan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The first examples of the spider were first identified by Eugène Simon in 1901 in what is now Southern Sudan, but it was not until 2003 that the species was formally described by Jerzy Prószyński and Wanda Wesołowska. The exact nature of the species is disputed, with Prószyński stating that the examples found may may be a group of species rather than a single one. Those that have been described are small, with a carapace that is between 2.1 and 2.4 mm long and an ovoid abdomen that measures between 1.7 and 3.2 mm long. The female is larger than the male. They have a brown or dark brown carapace, the female being plain while the male having a pattern of creamy white spots. The African male spiders and Asian female spiders have lighter patches on a russet background. The Asian male spiders are brown and white. They have generally brown mouthparts. The spider's copulatory organs are distinctive. The female has an unusual trapezoid-shaped depression in its epigyne. The male has a broad embolus that has a tip that hugs a very distinctive protrusion, or apophysis.
Plexippus baro is a species of jumping spider in the genus Plexippus that lives in the Ethiopia. The male was first described by Wanda Wesołowska and Beata Tomasiewicz in 2008. The female has not been identified. The spider is medium-sized with a cephalothorax that is typically 2.7 mm (0.11 in) long and an abdomen 3.6 mm (0.14 in) long. The carapace is brown with three white stripes and the abdomen is russet-brown with a single white stripe. The spider has a pattern of two narrow white stripes on its clypeus which give it a distinctive face. The copulatory organs distinguish it from related species, particularly the male's longer embolus.
Plexippus fuscus is a species of jumping spider in the genus Plexippus that lives in Guinea. It was first described in 2002 by Christine Rollard and Wanda Wesołowska. Only the female has been described. It is a medium-sized spider, with a dark brown carapace typically 3.4 mm (0.13 in) long and a reddish-brown abdomen that is 2.3 mm (0.091 in) long. Both the carapace and abdomen are covered in dark brown hairs. The abdomen has a yellow marking like a belt. Although superficially similar to other species in the genus like Plexippus paykulli, it can be distinguished by the presence of a long thin pocket in the epigyne and significant sclerotisation on the edges of the copulatory openings, which are also wider than other Plexippus spiders.
Plexippus lutescens is a species of jumping spider in the genus Plexippus that lives in Namibia and Zimbabwe. It was first described in 2002 by Wanda Wesołowska. Only the male has been described. In 2017, Jerzy Prószyński declared it should be reclassified as the spider has a different palpal bulb to others in the genus, but this was not undertaken. It is a medium-sized spider, with a cephalothorax typically 3.3 mm (0.13 in) long and an abdomen that is 4 mm (0.16 in) long. The dark brown carapace has three white stripes and the reddish-brown abdomen has a single stripe of lighter brown. The spider has a short tibial apophysis and thin embolus. It lacks the lateral lobe on the palpal bulb that is visible on other species in the genus.
Plexippus minor is a species of jumping spider in the genus Plexippus that lives in the United Arab Emirates. The male was first described by Wanda Wesołowska and Antonius van Harten in 2010 and the female in 2020. The spider is medium-sized with a cephalothorax between 3.1 and 3.8 mm long and an abdomen between 3.3 and 4.1 mm long. It has a shape and colouring typical of the genus. The male has a orange carapace while the female is brownish-fawn. The copulatory organs distinguish it from related species, particularly the male's shorter embolus and tibial apophysis and the female's wide pocket on its epigyne.
Plexippus tsholotsho is a species of jumping spider in the genus Plexippus that lives in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It was first described in 2011 by the Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska. The species was first found in the Zimbabwean district of Tsholotsho, after which the species is named. Only the female has been described. It is a large spider, with a cephalothorax 4 mm (0.16 in) long and abdomen 5.2 mm (0.20 in) long. It is generally dark brown in colour, with a lighter brownish orange tint to the rear of the carapace and a white stripe along the body of the abdomen. It is distinguished from the otherwise similar Plexippus paykulli in the shape of the copulatory ducts in the epigyne and the presence of significant sclerotization around the gonopores.
Plexippus wesolowskae is a species of jumping spider in the genus Plexippus that lives in Bangladesh. It was first described in 1998 by V. Biswas and D. Raychaudhuri. The spider is medium-sized, with a carapace 3.4 mm (0.13 in) and an abdomen 3.2 mm (0.13 in) long. The carapace is dark brown with a black band and white cross. The abdomen is a lighter brown with one white and two black stripes. It is similar to the related Plexippus paykulli that can also be found in the same country, but can be distinguished by features like the elongated almost vase-like shape of the sternum and lack of tibial apophysis on the palpal bulb.
Stenaelurillus modestus is a species of jumping spider in the genus Stenaelurillus that lives in South Africa. It was first described in 2014 by Wanda Wesołowska. The species is a specialist that preys on Odontotermes termites, although its venom is also effective against other prey. The spider is medium-sized, with a brown cephalothorax between 2.0 and 2.7 mm in length and a black abdomen between 1.9 and 2.8 mm long. It is generally black in colour. The carapace has a border of white hairs and the abdomen is edged with bristles. It is distinguished from other members of the genus by the male's elongated palpal bulb and straight embolus, and the horseshoe-shaped depression in the female's epigyne.
Stenaelurillus guttiger is a species of jumping spider in the genus Stenaelurillus that is native to southern Africa. It was first described in 1901 by Eugène Simon based on examples found in South Africa, and subsequently also identified in Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Initially allocated to the genus Aelurillus, the species was moved to its current genus in 1974. The spider is medium-sized, with a carapace that is between 2.0 and 2.75 mm long and an abdomen that is between 1.8 and 2.9 mm long. It is dark brown or brown, and has a pattern of white hairs on both the abdomen and carapace and a pattern of two stripes on the carapace. The abdomen has a white pattern of straight and V-shaped stripes and spots which varies between specimens. The colouring of the clypeus and legs can also range from yellow to dark brown depending on the particular example. It is distinguished from other species in the genus by the design of its sexual organs. The male has an embolus that is short and crab like. The female has a flat plate epigyne with widely separated copulatory openings and insemination ducts and a deep narrow pocket. Stenaelurillusguttiger feeds on termites, particularly Macrotermes and Odontotermes.
