Zebra Jumping Spider (Salticus scenicus): Jumping Spider Facts

What is a zebra jumping spider?

The zebra jumping spider, also called the zebra spider or zebra jumper, belongs to the jumping spider family, Salticidae. With around 7,000 described species, this is the largest spider family, making up roughly one in eight known spiders. Jumping spiders are active daytime hunters with the best eyesight of any spiders.

The zebra spider was one of the first spiders to receive a scientific name, in 1757 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Alexander Clerck. Its genus name Salticus comes from the Latin for “jump”, and scenicus means “theatrical” or “decorative”, a nod to its showy pattern. Because it is common around houses, it is one of the jumping spiders people in Europe and North America see most often.

Appearance

The zebra spider is dark brown to black with bands of white hairs. The front part of the body, the cephalothorax, is boxy with a flat front “face”. The rear part, the abdomen, has white stripes that often form a chevron pattern. The legs are banded and fairly short and sturdy.

Like all jumping spiders, it has eight eyes in three rows. Two huge eyes face straight forward in the middle of the face, flanked by two smaller forward-facing eyes. Two tiny eyes sit farther back, and two medium-sized eyes on the rear corners of the head watch to the sides and behind.

Males and females differ in a few ways. Males are a little smaller and have much longer, forward-projecting jaws (chelicerae). Adult males also have enlarged pedipalps, the short leg-like appendages beside the mouth, which they use for mating.

How big is a zebra jumping spider?

In a laboratory study of breathing in this species, the adults measured averaged about 2.7–5.3 mg, so it takes roughly 200–400 zebra spiders to weigh a single gram.

Habitat and range

Zebra spiders live across the Holarctic, the northern temperate zone of Europe, North America and northern Asia. In the wild they favor open, sunny, vertical surfaces: rock faces, cliffs, shingle beaches and the trunks of trees. Buildings offer the same conditions, so the species is very common on house walls, garden fences, window frames and sheds. They often wander indoors and may be seen on windowsills.

They are most active on warm, sunny days from spring to autumn. In cold or wet weather, and at night, they retreat into small silk shelters spun in cracks, under loose bark or in the corners of window frames. These shelters, sometimes called pup tents, are also where they molt, where females guard their eggs, and where they wait out the winter.

On a sunny wall, a zebra spider moves in short, jerky bursts, stopping often to look around. It is a solitary animal: each spider hunts alone, and when two meet, they usually face each other, raise their front legs and then go their separate ways.

In Europe, two close relatives can be confused with it. Salticus cingulatus and Salticus zebraneus are also small black-and-white jumping spiders, but they live mostly on tree trunks rather than walls. Telling the three apart reliably needs a close look at the pattern and often a microscope. In much of North America, the zebra spider is the striped jumping spider most often seen on houses, while the larger, hairier and often brightly marked jumping spiders of the genus Phidippus are more common on plants.

How does the zebra jumping spider hunt?

The zebra spider is a visual hunter. Its side eyes detect movement, and the spider quickly swivels to face the object so its big front eyes can study it. If the target looks like prey, it creeps forward slowly, slowing even more as it gets close, in a manner often described as cat-like. When it is within range, it attaches a silk line to the surface and pounces.

Its prey includes flies, fruit flies, mosquitoes, small moths, other small insects and other spiders. Zebra spiders have been seen tackling mosquitoes almost twice their own length and small moths up to about three times their length. They avoid ants, which bite and taste bad to many predators. A quick bite with fast-acting venom subdues the prey without the need for a web.

Studies of the zebra spider’s hunting have measured how it reacts. It turns toward an object seen by its side eyes once the object appears large enough on the retina, and only moving objects trigger the turn. Whether it then stalks depends on both the size and the speed of the target, so it ignores things that are too large or too fast to be safe prey. As it approaches a still insect, it slows down step by step, which keeps it from startling its victim.

Hunting this way is hard work. Jumping spiders use two breathing systems at once: book lungs, the leaf-like breathing organs found in most spiders, and a well-developed network of air tubes called tracheae. A study on the zebra spider found that either system alone is enough at rest, but both are needed when the spider is very active, as during a chase or a jump.

Eyesight and jumping

Jumping spiders see far better than other spiders. The big front eyes work like small telescopes, with a long tube, a fixed lens and a narrow, movable retina at the back. The spider scans a target by moving the retinas rather than the eyes. Their layered retinas let them judge distance, which is essential for an accurate leap. Read more in how well jumping spiders see.

The zebra spider’s jump is powered mainly by a sudden straightening of the fourth (rear) pair of legs. Spider legs lack extensor muscles at two key joints, so jumping spiders stretch their legs partly by quickly raising the pressure of their blood. Measured takeoff speeds in this species are about 0.6–0.8 m/s (2.1–2.6 ft/s). Before every jump, the spider glues down a dragline, so if it misses it can climb back up. See how jumping spiders jump.

Reproduction and life cycle

Zebra spiders mate in spring and summer. Because they rely on vision, courtship is a visual dance: the male waves his front legs and pedipalps and bobs his abdomen, showing off his striped markings. He must be careful, since a female that is not interested may attack him or treat him as prey. If she accepts, she crouches, and he climbs onto her and transfers sperm with his pedipalps.

The female lays her eggs in a silk sac inside a retreat and guards it. She stays with the young after they hatch, and the spiderlings leave her after their second molt. They grow through a series of molts, spending the cold months sheltered in silk retreats.

Lifespan

The zebra spider’s lifespan is not precisely documented. Like many small temperate jumping spiders, it typically lives about one to two years, with at least one winter spent sheltering inside a silk retreat. Males usually die sooner after mating than females. For comparison with other spiders, see how long spiders live.

Predators and threats

Small birds, lizards, larger spiders, predatory insects and parasitic wasps all take zebra spiders. Their sharp eyesight helps them spot danger, and they can leap away or drop on a silk line. The species is widespread and common, and it has not been assessed by the IUCN, so its status is Not Evaluated. It is not considered at risk, and it does well in towns because buildings provide the sunny walls it needs.

Myths and facts

Myth: jumping spiders jump at people to attack them. A zebra spider that leaps onto a hand is usually trying to escape or simply moving on. It does not attack people.

Myth: spiders that do not build webs do not use silk. The zebra spider spins silk every day, for draglines, shelters and egg sacs. It just does not use it to catch prey.

Fact: it can recognize objects by sight. Jumping spiders tell prey, rivals and mates apart mainly by looking at them, something few other spiders can do.

Fact: it is one of Europe’s earliest named spiders. Clerck described it in 1757, in the work that marks the starting point for scientific spider names.

Relationship with people

The zebra spider is one of the most familiar spiders on houses in Europe and parts of North America, and many people find it endearing because it turns to look at them. It is harmless: it rarely bites, and its fangs are too small to cause more than a brief pinch. Like other spiders, it eats flies and mosquitoes around homes.

Jumping spiders such as the zebra spider are also important to science. Researchers study them to understand vision, distance judgment and even rest at night in animals with tiny brains. One recent line of work is described in do spiders sleep?