Jumping Spiders

I had a pretty successful effort at looking for spiders back in 2019, I'd always photographed any that I happened to spot on my travels that were very obvious but I had never made special effort to find them before. Most of these jumping spiders were found on the soft rock cliffs at Axmouth, Branscombe and Eype, mostly by carefully searching under tussocks of grass, but some can easily be found out in the open too.

They are small and quite difficult to photograph without top of the range photographic equipment, but that didn't stop me trying. One of the larger species is Salticus scenicus, the common and well known Zebra Spider which can reach up to a whopping 7mm! This one kept really still, allowing me to get these nice shots, which is more than can be said for most of the rest!

Common Zebra Spider - Salticus scenicus

Another commonly seen jumping spider is the Sun Jumper, these are predominantly black with yellow/pale legs and can often be seen sitting on flowers in sunny weather. There are several species but they are very difficult to identify without microscopy.

Sun Jumper - Heliophanus sp.

Downy Jumper - Sitticus sp.

Again there are several species of Sitticus which can only be identified with microscopy. Sitticus pubescens (Downy Jumper) is by far the most common.

 

This next species was a real challenge as the males are only 2-3mm long, but it's really worth persevering to get photos because they are very striking, with colours which aren't visible to the naked eye ( not mine anyway). The female is bigger but also plainer. 

Female Euophrys frontalis  

Male Euophrys frontalis 

The next two species really took some finding.They are both almost exclusively found on sand dunes, but they do also occur in and around tussocks of grass on the soft rock cliffs at the sites I visited. Firstly, the Dune Jumper (Marpissa nivoyi).

Here's a male, again only 5mm long and a very distinctive shape with a long body and thickened front legs, from a distance the outline looks a bit like a pseudoscorpion.

 Male Dune Jumper - Marpissa nivoyi

The following three photos are of the female

 Dune Jumper - Marpissa nivoyi
 

And secondly, Synagales venator which is one of two species of ant-mimicking jumping spiders found in the UK. I found these (and Marpissa nivoyi) at both Axmouth and Eype but failed to find the second Ant-mimicking species Myrmarachne formicaria at either. Hopefully I'll be able to get out there and find it this year!

Ant mimicking Jumping Spider - Synageles venator

These are only 3.5- 5mm in length and are very easy to overlook when amongst ants, but are different enough to stand out when you are purposely looking for them.

Finally one most people are familiar with, the House Jumping Spider or Fleecy Jumper (Pseudoeuophrys lanigera). These were taken inside my house.

Female

Male Fleecy Jumper - Pseudoeuophrys lanigera