Zebra spider
Salticus scenicus
— Where the name comes from
Salticus comes from saltus, the leap: it is the spider that jumps, and the whole family of Salticidae takes its name from here. Scenicus is odder and means “theatrical, of the stage”, for the black and white bands that look like a harlequin’s costume. The name therefore says “leaper in stage dress”, which describes a small actor performing on sunlit walls.
— Facts
- Group
- Arachnids · Arachnida
- Order
- Spiders
- Habitat
- Sunny walls, fences, trunks, windowsills
- Range
- Europe, northern Asia, North America
- Size
- 5–7 mm
- Diet
- Flies, mosquitoes and other small insects
- Lifespan
- 1 year
— Characteristics
- 01
It jumps up to twenty times its own length to catch prey.
- 02
Before jumping it fixes a safety line, like a climber.
- 03
Its two front eyes see better than those of many vertebrates.
— What sets it apart
It has the best eyesight of any arthropod for its size. The two central eyes are tubes with a four-layered retina that the animal moves internally, scanning the scene the way a reader’s eyes run along a line: it distinguishes colours, judges distance by comparing how blurred the image is on the different layers, and recognises shapes. It spins no web: it hunts by sight, stalks, calculates and leaps — and the leap is not muscular but hydraulic, the spider suddenly forcing haemolymph into its hind legs and extending them like pistons.
