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The jumping spiders (Salticidae) are a family of spiders containing more than 4,000 species. The one pictured (Paraphidippus aurantius) is native to North Carolina and is about ¼ inch (.5 cm) long.

Jumping spiders work like technical climbers in the world of mountain climbing. When a jumping spider is moving from place to place, and especially just before it jumps from one place to another, it tethers a filament of silk to whatever it is standing on. Should it fall for one reason or another, it just reels itself back to the point it secured its "climbing rope."

Jumping spiders have very good vision centered in their anterior median eyes (AME). These eyes are able to create a focused image on the retina, which has four layers of receptor cells in it. Physiological experiments have shown that they may have up to four different kinds of receptor cell, with different absorption spectra , giving them the possibility of up to tetrachromatic color vision, with sensitivity extending into the ultra-violet range. Color discrimination has been demonstrated in behavioral experiments.

Jumping spiders capture their prey by jumping on it from several inches away, and they may jump from twig to twig or leaf to leaf. They can carry out complex manoeuvres such as detours around obstacles in order to reach their prey. Their eyesight is much better than that of other spiders and most, if not all, insects. Most other spiders will only eat prey that they have captured live because they are unable to see dead prey (some long-legged sac spiderLong-legged sac spiders space for image Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Suborder Araneomorphae Family Miturgidae Genera many, see text The long-legged sac spiders ( family Miturgidae include ns, family Miturgidae, and anyphaenid sac spiderSac spiders space for image Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Suborder Araneomorphae Family Anyphaenidae Genera Anyphaena Hibana The anyphaenid sac spiders of the family Anyphaenidae are distings, family Anyphaenidae, are exceptions as they can recognize insect eggs as food). Jumping spiders, however, will eat flies that have been killed for them. In the picture you can see that this jumping spider is aware of the photographer.

Jumping spiders also utilize their vision in complex visual courtship displays. Males are often quite different in appearance than females and may have plumose hairs, colored or metallic hairs, front leg fringes, structures on other legs and other, often bizarre, modifications. These are used in visual courtship in which the colored or metallic parts of the body are displayed and complex sideling, vibrational or zigzag movements are performed in a courtship "dance." 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.

Some jumping spiders, like the one pictured above, are very shy. Others seem very friendly and will happily jump from fingertip to fingertip, or (be careful!) from fingertip to nose. Unlike almost all other spiders, they can quite easily climb on glass. They also use their silk to weave themselves little tent-like dwellings. The females protect their eggIn some animals, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. It nourishes and protects the embryo. Oviparous animals are animals that lay eggs, with little or no other development within the mother. This is the reproductive way of manys in these dwellings.

Even though they can be quite friendly, the larger ones will bite to protect themselves if you squeeze them. While the bite of a larger jumping spider can be painful, only a few species seem to produce any other effects. Almost all spiders (except uloborid spiders) have venom, but the venomThis article is about the toxin. For other meanings, see Venom (disambiguation Venom is a general term for the toxins used by several groups of animal species, for the purpose of defense and hunting prey. Most widely known are snakes, some species of whic of most spiders is not worse than the venom of beeThis article is about the insect. For the character B, see B. Andrenidae Anthophoridae Apidae Colletidae Ctenoplectridae Halictidae Heterogynaidae Megachilidae Melittidae Oxaeidae Sphecidae Stenotritidae Bees Apoidea superfamily) are flying insects, closes. Even so, it is not fun to be bitten by a cute jumping spider.

Jumping spiders live in a variety of habitats, including mountains (one species is reported to have been the spider collected at the highest elevation on the slopes of Mt. Everest), tropical forests, deserts, temperate forests, scrub lands, and even in the intertidal zone (in Malaysia). None are truly aquatic, however, and tropical forests harbor the most species.

Several species of jumping spiders appear to mimic ants, beetles, or pseudoscorpions. Others may appear to be parts of grass stems, bumps on twigs, bark, part of a rock or even part of a sand surface.