Both Male and Female Zebra Jumping Spiders (Salticus scenicus).

[Testudo Man]

Managed to capture some nice images of both sexes of Zebra Jumping Spiders (back on the 12th of April).
All images were shot in my back garden. As usual, all my Spiders are "alive an kicking" (or should that be alive an jumping!).
Single images, i dont stack shots.
Questions encouraged, cheers Paul.

1st image is of the female, image is not cropped at all.
Jumping Zebra Spider (Salticidae) Female. Uncropped. (garden photo) 12th April 2020 by Testudo Man, on Flickr


2nd image is of a male, image is cropped some.
Jumping Zebra Spider (Salticidae) Male. (garden photo) 12th April 2020. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

3rd image is of the female, image is cropped some.
Jumping Zebra Spider (Salticidae) Female. (garden photo) 12th April 2020 by Testudo Man, on Flickr

 

[Deleted member 3428]

Wonderful shots of a tricky subject.

 

[Darren]

Fantastic shots.

I'm giving these a go at the moment too, nothing as good as these so you've nothing to worry about.

They sure are interesting liitle spiders they seem to willingly attack just about anything, I had one yesterday jump on the back of a resting cranefly which then appeared to carry it off!

 

[Testudo Man]

Wonderful shots of a tricky subject.

Thanks Alby, ive been observing these little jumpers for years now, so its nice to get some good images of them.

Fantastic shots.

I'm giving these a go at the moment too, nothing as good as these so you've nothing to worry about.

They sure are interesting liitle spiders they seem to willingly attack just about anything, I had one yesterday jump on the back of a resting cranefly which then appeared to carry it off!

Cheers Darren, these tiny Spiders are really rewarding to observe, they never cease to amaze me, with their movements/antics. I was watching a pair of males the other day, an when they got too close to each other, both males displayed, by spreading their front legs wide apart!...the smaller male soon retreated though, he knew he was "outgunned"!!

It would have been great to capture images/film of your jumper, attacking that Cranefly, but for the most part, the blighters are just too rapid.



Heres another image of that male(from a different angle). Image is cropped some. Cheers Paul.

 

[turbotoes]

My favorite spiders bar none (ok, not a great spider fan but these guys are great) hard to pick a fav but going for the first as it’s a classic

 

[Darren]

That's another cracking shot.

It would have been great to capture images/film of your jumper, attacking that Cranefly, but for the most part, the blighters are just too rapid.

I'm gutted I missed the attack itself and I've only myself to blame really, I was so engrossed by what was happening I lowered the camera for a better look and completely missed the shot.

 

[Deleted member 3428]

Yep another great shot, the moss seedhead show just how small this little fella is.

 

[alfbranch]

All very nice Paul. Amazing subject I never tire of.
I saw one attack a harvestman about 4 times it's size the harvestman just dropped off the wall to escape.
I have a video on a male entering a females nest

 

[Testudo Man]

My favorite spiders bar none (ok, not a great spider fan but these guys are great) hard to pick a fav but going for the first as it’s a classic

Thanks Tara, sometimes you cant beat the classics, good choice.

That's another cracking shot.

I'm gutted I missed the attack itself and I've only myself to blame really, I was so engrossed by what was happening I lowered the camera for a better look and completely missed the shot.

Cheers Darren, its oh so easy to miss shots, weve all done that...but sometimes just observing behaviour, is reward enough.

Yep another great shot, the moss seedhead show just how small this little fella is.

Thanks Alby, yes, these guys are really tiny in size.

All very nice Paul. Amazing subject I never tire of.
I saw one attack a harvestman about 4 times it's size the harvestman just dropped off the wall to escape.
I have a video on a male entering a females nest

Thanks Alf, any chance you could post up this video of yours? that would be good viewing.

Ive just found an old image of mine which dates back to 2013! its the 1st (an only time) ive witnessed Jumping Spiders in courtship. Not the same Zebra species as above, but it was really fascinating stuff to watch. Heres the only pic i could get of the courting couple, before they jumped off the leaf out of sight. Location was a woodland, approx 5 miles from my home.
Cheers Paul. Image is cropped quite a bit...an shows the much smaller male, on top of the larger female.

Pair of Jumping Spiders in courtship. 4th-June-2013 by Testudo Man, on Flickr

 

[alfbranch]

Paul the video probably wont embed so you may need to click on them to view them on Flickr theer are two of them.. Both shot handheld in manual focus with my old style sigma 105 on my Oly E-M1


P6150176 by Alf Branch, on Flickr

Male jumper going in by Alf Branch, on Flickr

 

[Testudo Man]

Paul the video probably wont embed so you may need to click on them to view them on Flickr theer are two of them.. Both shot handheld in manual focus with my old style sigma 105 on my Oly E-M1


P6150176 by Alf Branch, on Flickr

Male jumper going in by Alf Branch, on Flickr

Thanks very much for posting your behavioural videos Alf, it was great to see these fascinating little Jumpers. I kept thinking that the male was going to be grabbed/preyed upon by the female, but i guess she accepted his tentative moves/advances. Cheers Paul.

 

[alfbranch]

Thanks very much for posting your behavioural videos Alf, it was great to see these fascinating little Jumpers. I kept thinking that the male was going to be grabbed/preyed upon by the female, but i guess she accepted his tentative moves/advances. Cheers Paul.

Thanks Paul it was fascinating to see and I am glad I videod it as stills would not have done it justice.
I kept thinking he would get grabbed.
I had seen these nests (or whatever you call them) moving for weeks before this with legs sticking out and wondered what was going.

 

[alfbranch]

Paul
The large part that makes the male so easy tell apart in this species are his chelicerae (I had to check in my book again for that info).

I was looking back at my spider album on Flickr and with the videos in and I found this still not that great but you can see her looking out. This is all happening on my house walls.

when there eyes first met by Alf Branch, on Flickr

As I say I had been observing her for a while

Salticus scenicus female by Alf Branch, on Flickr

 

[Testudo Man]

Thanks Paul it was fascinating to see and I am glad I videod it as stills would not have done it justice.
I kept thinking he would get grabbed.
I had seen these nests (or whatever you call them) moving for weeks before this with legs sticking out and wondered what was going.

Great stuff, im going to have to keep an eye out for these types of nests myself now.

Paul
The large part that makes the male so easy tell apart in this species are his chelicerae (I had to check in my book again for that info).

I was looking back at my spider album on Flickr and with the videos in and I found this still not that great but you can see her looking out. This is all happening on my house walls.

when there eyes first met by Alf Branch, on Flickr

As I say I had been observing her for a while

Salticus scenicus female by Alf Branch, on Flickr

Those big eyes looking out at the male, look kinda creepy, but awesome too.
My house walls are also a good place to find Zebra Jumpers, an it looks like i too could have loads of potential nest sites. Just lately, i cant find any adult sized females on the main wall(only a few males around) so maybe all the females are busy building their nests, to attract the males perhaps?

 

[alfbranch]

Great stuff, im going to have to keep an eye out for these types of nests myself now.



Those big eyes looking out at the male, look kinda creepy, but awesome too.
My house walls are also a good place to find Zebra Jumpers, an it looks like i too could have loads of potential nest sites. Just lately, i cant find any adult sized females on the main wall(only a few males around) so maybe all the females are busy building their nests, to attract the males perhaps?

Yeah at certain points you can't find them.
The nests seem to have the remains of meals at the entrance often woodlice I find.
They are weirdly bleached out white exoskeleton.