Little Monsters Part 33 - Jumping Spiders II Evarcha albaria
Jumping Spiders are my absolute favourite type of spider!
They are very charismatic, curious and active little creatures.
I read on a Reddit thread, I think in the r/awwnverts subreddit, someone called them "Octokittens", isn't that just great?!
Today, I had the great fortune of finding a species that I haven't photographed or even seen before! Amazing as it was near the house in a small park!
Casually resting in the sunlight on a leaf an Evarcha albaria:
Japanese has a common name "Mamijiro haetori" but English does not.
I was impressed at how large it was! Most jumping spiders are quite small, 7-9mm, this large female was about 12mm! While doing some research to identify jumping spiders, I found that the female spiders have a much larger abdomen and slender pedipalps. Pedipalps are the small leg like appendages at the front of the head, behind which are the fangs, the pedipalps function much like our lips, to manipulate food items!
Now you can identify male/female jumping spiders too!
If you look closely at the top edge of the head, behind the large front facing eyes you can see three more eyes (the third is a bit difficult to spot) most spiders have four pairs of eyes. Depending on the particular species of spider's hunting strategy the eyes can be large or small and arranged in different patterns. Jumping spiders are active stalkers of prey which also need good depth perception and threat detection, the largest pair are front facing with the others arranged around the head to provide a very wide range of sight.
Alas the spider grew a bit shy and retreated to the underside of the leaf.
My luck continued as a few minutes later I spotted a male Evarcha!
The differences are very easy to see!
The abdomen is much smaller, it doesn't need space to store any eggs, it's almost 1/3 the size of the female's! Such size discrepancy is common among more sedentary spiders such as the golden orb weavers from part 2 of this series: Golden Orb Weaver
From the front we can see that the males pedipalps are larger than the female spider's.
Males will use their pedipalps to signal females in courtship as well as in disputes with rival males.
Another reason for the male to have more developed pedipalps is that they are used for kinky spider sex!
The male makes a small web, deposits sperm on the web, then picks it up with his pedipalps and puts the whole package into the female's genital opening! During this delicate procedure the male sometimes ends up as a meal, but as long as he was successful evolution keeps on ticking. Because I had a difficult time believing that, here's a Source: Spider Sex written by Tom Harris
Breaking a cardinal rule of wildlife photography (keep the eyes in focus!) This side view of the male shows how powerfully muscled the front legs of jumping spiders are in comparison to the other legs.
Unlike frogs that push themselves through the air using their back legs; jumping spiders pull themselves as though doing a massive push up!
Sources:
Spider ID
Spider Sex
Comments and feedback are always welcome.
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Also, if you like macro photography, check out some of the earlier posts in this series.
Little Monsters - Part I: Wolf Spiders
Little Monsters - Part II: Golden Orb Weaver
Little Monsters - Part III: Lynx Spiders!
Little Monsters - Part IV: Decorator Orb Weaver
Little Monsters - Part V: Black Back Paper Wasp
Little Monsters - Part VI: Dragonfly
Little Monsters - Part VII: Indian Fritallary
Little Monsters - Part VIII: Giant Japanese Hornet
Little Monsters - Part IX: Praying Mantis!
Little Monsters - Part X: Harlequin Ladybird!
Little Monsters - Part XI: Dragons!
Little Monsters - Part XII: Snails!
Little Monsters - Part XIII: Evil Weevils!
Little Monsters - Part XIV: Fantastic Phasmids!
Little Monsters - Part XV: To Bee or not to Bee?
Little Monsters - Part 16: Jumping Spiders!
Little Monsters - Part 17: Hawkmoth Caterpillars and Hawkmoths
Little Monsters - Part 18: Evil Doppelgangers - The Ant Mimic Spider
Little Monsters - Part 19: Hummingbird Hawkmoth!
Little Monsters - Part 20: Loud and Proud the Cicada!
Little Monsters - Part 21: Great Green Caterpillars!
Little Monsters - Part 22: Vespa mandarina japonica
Little Monsters - Part 23: Little Black Ants
Little Monsters - Part 24: Cranes and Robbers
Little Monsters - Part 25: Hidden in the Grass
Little Monsters - Part 26: Ammophila, Alien is real!
Little Monsters - Part 27: Bush Cricket
Little Monsters - Part 28: Butterflies, flying bits of colour!
Little Monsters - Part 29: Hermit Crabs!
Little Monsters - Part 30: Red Back Spider
Little Monsters - Part 31: Harlequin Ladybird Larva
Little Monsters - Part 32: Small Cabbage White
I maintain and reserve copyright on all of my photos.
Amazing pictures and amazing information!
Your photography has made even scary looking spiders look cute :p
Steem on!
Thank you so much! These one's are easy to make cute, for others I have to make them "scary" as there's really nothing cute about a Redback. :)
Or a Tarantula! Even thinking about it gives me goose bumps :p
Yeah, I think it's their tiny little eyes and massive fangs, not so much how big they are, though that's certainly a part of it.
Their appearance as a whole is creepy. I have arachnophobia I guess :p
Can't believe I missed this excellent post!
Well, at least you've seen it now! :)
So creepy cool!
"Creeping" cool. :P
Interesting shot but I won't want to meet them in person.
But they are tiny , gentle little creatures! :)
damn cute !
100%!
Maybe I have the wrong perception all these while
For a little jumper, just watch one for a few minutes at a comfortable distance, it's kind of cute when one finds its way into the staff room and jumps from book to book!
Great photos! Jumping spider are great, somehow the "fashion stars" among the spiders, with their hair styles and colors. And there is a enormous amount of different species, many of which are not even known because they are so small.
But difficult customers to photograph, because they can see really well and they react on things that approach them. For a good macro you need to get close, and they dont like that at all.
Yes, they can be difficult, they'll often turn to the lens and look towards movement. If you're lucky you can get them to think their reflection is another spider and they'll try to out dance their reflection!
You're right that many haven't even been discovered yet, the current darlings of social media the "Peacock Spiders" were only recently documented in Australia.
I read somewhere, that its assumed that there may be several thousand more species not yet discovered, often only 1-2mm in size.
Well, thats a nice task for macro photographers... :)
Very much so!
I absolutely love jumpers! :) Octokitten is really a great term for them, lol. Great post!
It really is! Haha! Thanks for your support!
Just about the cutest little monsters out there! Awesome post.
They really are, thanks for your support!
wow very cool! thanks for sharing
:D Thanks!
Amazing macro!
Thank you!
beautiful eyes he has :) mweich great shot!
They're really fantastic!
they are for sure @mweich but I still love your dragonfly. my favorite from your collection:)
Dragonflies are great too!