Talk:Jumping spider

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Spiders To do:

in the Scientific American many years ago on the Portia (spider), a jumping and webspinning spider which preys on other spiders. The spider has two remarkable behaviors - one is cryptic movement, in which it moves while waving its legs randomly as if it was a fluttering leaf. The other is the way that it intentionally vibrates spider webs in order to lure the spiders. I hope someone who knows about spiders will write an article for Wiki on Portia. -Willmcw 23:42, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

FYI, a group of editors, starting with user:OldakQuill, have created a nice little article. -Willmcw 10:12, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Sounds produced by the male during courtship dance

I added a link to the "External Links" section to a video posted on Liveleak of a courtship dance where a contact microphone and membrane was used to pick up the sounds produced by the male during the dance.

The Reproduction section of the Wiki article has "citation needed" for the statement, "In recent years it has been discovered that many jumping spiders may have auditory signals as well, with amplified sounds produced by the males sounding like buzzes or drum rolls." While the video posted to Liveleak clearly demonstrates this, I'm unsure how to cite it because I don't know the source of the video. I did try searching, but it was fruitless. -Artificial Silence 01:20, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The jumping spider on Mt. Everest

There has been reported a species even on Mt. Everest, which feeds on insects blown there by the wind. Why is its name NEVER mentioned, and why isn't there any information about this spider?


The "tan jumping spider" on this page is actually a lynx spider. Family Oxyopidae, not Salticidae. You can tell by the eye arrangement-- Salticidae has two very large median eyes. Oxyopidae does not.

[edit] Jumping mechanism?

How exactly do these spiders jump? Do they have muscles that are very strong or do they employ a different mechanism?

They are using their blood: "Spiders extend their limbs by forcing blood into them, much as you pump hydraulic fluid into a backhoe's digging arm to extend the claw. This system is remarkably efficient, the mechanics of a jumping spider's legs enables it to leap 25 times its own length. If a spider loses too much blood, however, it no longer has enough internal pressure to fully push its legs out. A human in that predicament . . . well, there's always Viagra. A spider is fated to curl up and die." If they had used muscles instead, their legs would have to be incredible thick. They are most of all using their most posterior pair of legs for jumping.
Very interesting. Thanks for the answer

[edit] gliding spider

I checked the gliding spider 'Maratus volans', and cannot find any references on it that it actually glides (although the species name volans implies this). As far as I found out (and wrote in the species article), they use these flaps for display. I could not contact the anonymous author that made the change at 23:51, 27 February 2006. if anybody has a source for this, that would be nice. --Sarefo 12:49, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes I just removed that part simply because nothing is baked about this supposed flap gliding anywhere. --uniquinous

Found a possible source, don't know how relyable it is. [1] - Bakuhatsusama 23:34, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bad Geographics?

What is up with the map showing that these things are everywhere - is that a mistake?? Jgreenberg 02:38, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

No, I think it's true. There are over 4,000 species of jumping spider identified so far, and they're everywhere. RobertAustin 13:07, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Walking on glass

Walking on glass depends on finding minute imperfections in the surface? Does not current theory invoke something like Van der Waals' forces instead? Myron 09:06, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] National Geographic Special

A must watch for fans of these spiders: [2]. There's information in the special not included in the article. Like the mosquitoes they hunt are filled with human blood or the extent of the hunting strategies. Alatari 15:38, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wording

"Further approach may result in the spider jumping backwards while still eyeing the hand." Don't they generally have eight eyes? i.e. they could probably be described as "eyeing the hand" even with their back against the hand. I think the sentence meant "facing the hand", and it should be changed to avoid confusion. Aran|heru|nar 09:57, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Inquisitive?

Just a quick question, 'cause lord knows I'm no spider expert. How do we know that jumping spiders are "inquisitive" and "interested" rather than simply possessing an instinct to face whatever stimulus approaches? My gut reaction to these words is that they are needlessly anthropomorphizing the spiders - ascribing to them a personality they are too simple to possess. Does a spider get acclimated to stimuli? For instance, if you keep approaching a jumping spider with your hand, does it ever get "bored" of that game? Applejuicefool (talk) 11:31, 17 November 2007 (UTC)