What I do. Part 1 - why jumping spiders?

Many of you who found this new blog probably know that I work with jumping spiders. Those who don't know will likely have one of two reactions that I get a lot: Either it's "Ewww!", or "wow cool!". There really isn't much in between. Well, it's a step up from the raised eyebrows and bewildered "why??" that I got when I was doing my diploma thesis on beetles ...

The Ewww-reaction usually comes from non-biologists. Spiders in general are of course scary to many people, whether they are dangerous or not. "Wow cool" comes from almost everyone who knows what a jumping spider is. Despite the images the name might invoke, jumping spiders (salticids) are probably the least scary group of spiders. They are small, completely harmless, and, yes, cute.

Just look at the little guy! (pic: Robert R. Jackson)

One of the things that makes them a lot more personable than most arthropods is their apparent curiosity. A jumping spider will investigate things it finds interesting. It will look you in the eye. Here is a great video of a salticid being a salticid, by macro master Thomas Shahan:

Another example, here is a jumping spider chasing a laser dot:

These sorts of behaviours are possible because of their outstanding eyesight. Jumping spiders don't build webs to catch insects to snack on, they go out and hunt. Once something tasty is spotted with their big, sharp eyes, they'll stalk it, creep up from behind, and pounce. In many ways, their hunting behaviour is reminiscent of that of cats (the cantonese word for jumping spider translates to "fly tiger", which I like a lot better).

Spiders have eight eyes, but most of them, especially the web-building variety, have pretty bad eyesight and rely more on other senses. In jumping spiders, those eyes are highly developed, and each pair of eyes is different from the others in anatomy and function. So far, most is known about the striking primary eyes (the big ones in the middle), which are more acute than most vertebrate eyes! But there still is a lot to learn, especially about the function of the other eye pairs and, maybe most interesting, how all of them work together. 

And that is what I'm trying to find out.

more to come!