Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Jumping spiders


Jumping spiders capture their prey by jumping on it from several inches away, and they may jump from twig to twig or leaf to leaf. They can jump many times their body length. They can carry out complex maneuvers such as detours around obstacles in order to reach their prey. Their eyesight is much better than the other spiders and most, if not all, insects. Most other spiders will only eat prey that they have captured live because they are unable to see dead prey (some long-legged sac spiders and anyphaenid sac spiders are exceptions as they recognize insect eggs as food) but jumping spiders will eat flies that have been killed for them. One jumping spider (Evarcha culicivora) is even known to only capture mosquitos full of blood, using their eyesight and smell.

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