 | Jumping spider - Phidippus mystaceus Arachnida (Arachnids) » Araneae (Spiders) » Salticidae (Jumping Spiders) Live adult spider photographed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina USA. Please select a thumbnail for larger image. |
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 Adult Male Jumping Spider - Phidippus mystaceus | ||
| Phidippus mystaceus has my vote as the most colorful of all the jumping spiders. It is this spider that offers the photographer the best chance of capturing images of the spider's retina, which is not fixed in place like our own. The jumping spider's retina is moveable. Because the retina is the darkest part of the eye, you can sometimes look into the eye of a jumping spider and see it changing color as it moves to follow your actions. When it is darkest, you know the spider is looking straight at you, because then you are looking down into its retina. Jumping spiders are easily distinguished from other spiders by their four big eyes on the face and four smaller eyes on top of the head. Around the world there are probably more than 5000 species of jumping spiders. Jumping spiders are charming lil buggers that look up and watch you. Although a jumping spider can jump more than fifty times its body length, none of its legs has enlarged muscles. The power for jumping comes from a quick contraction of muscles in the front part of the body increasing the blood pressure, which causes the legs to extend rapidly much as the hydraulics in a low-rider car. |
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