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EENY-158
Pantropical Jumping Spiders in Florida1
G. B. Edwards, Jr.2
1. This document is EENY-158 (IN315) (originally published as DPI Entomology Circular 199), one of a series of Featured Creatures from the Entomology
and Nematology Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Published:
October 2000. Revised: September 2002. Reviewed: March 2011. This document is also available on Featured Creatures website at http://
entomology.ifas.u.edu/creatures. Please visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.u.edu.
2. G. B. Edwards, Jr., Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, Gainesville, FL.
The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to
individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national
origin, political opinions or aliations. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A&M University Cooperative
Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place , Dean
Introduction
Jumping spiders, or salticids, are so named because they
have a highly coordinated jumping ability with which they
capture prey and traverse from plant to plant. eir sense of
sight is extraordinary for invertebrates; they can see in color
(DeVoe 1975), and the large front eyes focus on objects
(Land 1972). Many are marked with contrasting colors or
bands, especially the males who display this ornamenta-
tion while dancing before females to win acceptance for
mating. Jumping spiders as adults may be as small as 1 mm
in length or as large as 23 mm, but most are 5 to 10 mm.
All jumping spiders are harmless to humans, although
the larger species can give a locally painful bite if roughly
handled.
Two species of jumping spiders occurring in Florida. e
gray wall jumper, Menemerus bivittatus (Dufour), and
the pantropical jumper, Plexippus paykulli (Audouin),
have been imported by man from the tropical Old World.
Both are almost exclusively associated with man-made
structures, usually buildings where they may be numerous
around lights at night, catching the insects attracted to the
lights. Both are medium- large jumping spiders, about 8 to
12 mm in length. Adults and immatures of both species are
present all year, although most mating and reproduction
begin in the fall and continue until spring. Both are found
from Florida to Texas and south to Paraguay. Menemerus
bivittatus also occurs in California, and both species are
widely distributed in the Old World tropics. e occurrence
of dense populations of these two species around human
habitations makes them of considerable benecial impor-
tance in the control of ies, mosquitoes, and other human
pests. At the same time, since they do not build webs to
capture prey, they do not create the cobwebs which so oen
annoy many people.
Gray Wall Jumper, (Dufour)
Abbreviated Synonymy
Salticus bivittatus Dufour, 1831
Attus melanognathus Lucas, 1839
Marpissa melanognathus, Simon, 1883
Menemerus bivittatus, Simon, 1901; Barnes, 1958
Description
is species is dorsoventrally attened. e males are 8
to 9 mm in length, while females are 8 to10 mm. In life,
males appear to be longitudinally striped with alternating
black and white, but in alcohol it is apparent that the dark
abdominal stripes are reddish brown, and reddish-brown
hairs also occur around the eyes. e carapace is mostly
black with a white stripe on each side and one down
the middle, the lateral stripes joining in front across the
clypeus. A distinctive white inverted “V” mark occurs on
the chellicerae. e female is gray dorsally, the carapace
edged with a thin white stripe laterally and an orange
clypeus; the semifoliar gray abdomen is edged with broad
2
black stripes on each side which meet posteriorly. In
alcohol, some reddish- brown hairs can be seen within the
gray areas, especially on the abdomen. Immatures closely
resemble the adult females, although sub-adult males may
be distinguished by their swollen palpi. All free-living
stages feed primarily on small Diptera which alight on
buildings, although they are capable of capturing large
crane ies twice their length, and larger, heavier muscoid
ies. Females make a white eggsac in a crevice, somewhat
attened and about 1.5 cm in diameter, inside which they
stay and guard 25 to 40 eggs which are contained inside a
lenticular silken case about 6 mm in diameter. Spiderlings
disperse about three weeks aer the eggs are laid.
Pantropical Jumper, (Audouin)
Abbreviated Synonymy
Attus paykullii Audouin, in Savigny, 1825
Plexippus ligo, C.L. Koch, 1846
Plexippus paykulli, Pavesi, 1883
otmes paykulli, F.O.P.-Cambridge, 1901
Description
is species is robust, with a high carapace. e males are 9
to11 mm in length, while the females are 9 to12 mm. Males
are distinctly black and white striped, but the order of the
dark and light stripes on the abdomen is the reverse of that
found in M. bivittatus, i.e., P. paykulli has a light central
stripe bordered by dark stripes, whereas M. bivittatus has a
dark central stripe bordered by light stripes. A pair of white
spots occurs near the posterior tip of the abdomen. e
male’s carapace is marked similarly to that of M. bivittatus,
with a central white stripe and a white stripe on each side,
but these lateral stripes, instead of meeting in front on
the clypeus, curve up, around, and between the anterior
eyes. e central white stripe also continues between the
anterior eyes, so that the face presents three white stripes
on a black background. e female is brown: the carapace is
darker, especially the ocular area, with a dull orange median
stripe on the thoracic slope. e abdomen has two short
black stripes on the posterior half, each containing two
white spots, and a tan stripe down the middle with some
darker chevrons within. As in most jumping spiders, the
immatures resemble the adult female, although sub-adult
males have more resemblance to adult males both in color
pattern and in their swollen palpi. Adults and immatures
feed on a wide variety of arthropod prey, including ies,
moths, smaller spiders, and ying ants (Edwards et al.
1974). Muma (1975) observed P. paykulli in citrus groves
in Central Florida -- the only recent report of this species
from plants rather than from man-made structures. e
eggsac is made by the female in a sheltered area, between
Figure 1. Male gray wall jumper, Menemerus bivittatus (Dufour).
Credits: Division of Plant Industry
Figure 2. Female gray wall jumper, Menemerus bivittatus (Dufour).
Credits: Division of Plant Industry
3
or under boards, under eaves, or in suitably-sized crevices.
e eggsac is 2.5 to 3.5 cm in diameter, and the female
stays inside to guard a lenticular silken case about 9 mm in
diameter containing 35 to 60 eggs. Spiderlings emerge and
disperse between three and four weeks aer the eggs are
laid.
Selected References
DeVoe, R.D. 1975. Ultraviolet and green receptors in
principal eyes of jumping spiders. J. Gen. Physiol. 66:
193-208.
Edwards, G.B., J.F. Carroll, and W.H. Whitcomb. 1974.
Stoidis aurata (Araneae: Salticidae), a spider predator of
ants. Fla. Ent. 57: 337-346.
Edwards, G.B. (September 2000). Regal jumping spider,
Phidippus regius C.L. Koch. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures.
EENY-152. http://edis.ifas.u.edu/IN309 (3 October 2000).
Land, M. 1972. Mechanisms of orientation and pattern
recognition by jumping spiders (Balticidae). Pages 231-247
in Information processing in the visual system of arthro-
pods, R. Wehner, ed. Berlin, Springer-Verlag.
Muma, M.H. 1975. Spiders in Florida citrus groves. Fla.
Ent. 58:83-90.
Figure 3. Male pantropical jumper, Plexippus paykulli (Audouin).
Credits: University of Florida
Figure 4. Female pantropical jumper, Plexippus paykulli (Audouin).
Credits: Division of Plant Industry