Happy International Jumping Spider Day

I can hardly believe we are one third of the way through October already, but at least we can celebrate International Jumping Spider Day on October 10. This is the ninth anniversary of the "holiday," which was founded by Shaham Tamir, a macrophotographer, in 2017. It is also known as National Jumping Spider Appreciation Day.

A male White-jawed Jumping Spider, Hentzia mitrata, from April of this year, Wyandotte County Lake Park, Kansas.

The annual #Arachtober event is also in progress on social media, and the photosharing site Flickr, where it originated. I am privileged to know both of the Arachtober founders, Joseph Connors and Ashley Bradford. As the name implies, Arachtober honors not only spiders, but mites, scorpions, harvestmen, and all other arachnids.

An immature female Golden Jumping Spider, Paraphidippus aurantius, has taken down a soldier beetle in our Leavenworth, Kansas back yard, in June.

Jumping spiders have become wildly popular in both the pet trade, and in pop culture in recent years. It is an encouraging example of how attitudes towards spiders can be changed through creative and, well, relentless, approaches. It helps that the members of the spider family Salticidae are often fuzzy, with one pair of very large, forward-facing eyes that give them a much more endearing appearance than most other spiders. There are now jumping spider plush toys.

Studio portrait of a male Bold Jumper, Phidippus audax, from our back yard in Leavenworth, Kansas, in May of this year.

Salticids are also the subject of research in many disciplines, especially animal behavior. Some species, such as those in the tropical genus Portia, exhibit the ability to plot their attacks on prey to avoid detection by their intended victim. Courtship behavior in jumping spiders is also complex. Males and females are frequently sexually dimorphic, to the degree that the sexes can be mistaken for different species.

This tiny, adult male Attinella concolor, was the first of its kind I had ever seen. June of this year, Leavenworth, Kansas.

Jumping spiders are the most diverse family of spiders, with a collectively global distribution, save for Antarctica, and are among the easiest spiders to find. They hunt on foot, without the aid of a web, but deposit a silken dragline for safely returning from a missed jump.

You can probably find one hunting on the exterior of your house right now. Approach slowly, as they have keen eyesight and are exceptional at detecting motion. I have had many a jumping spider escape beneath the siding of our home because I moved a little too fast. The underside of leaves, on tree trunks, and on the ground are other places to search for them. Sometimes they stray indoors, too.

There are some jaw-dropping ant mimics among the jumping spiders, like this male Synemosyna formica that I found on the outside of a neighbor's house here in Leavenworth, Kansas in early May.

Since Heidi and I were on a road trip to and from Tucson, Arizona at the start of the month, I have decided to participate in Arachtober using images from my iPhone 14, much as I did for National Moth Week this year. Spiders are a challenging subject for even those who are most accomplished at phone photography, so my results may be....mixed.

Phone pic of a female Green Lynx Spider, with American Snout butterfly prey, and her egg sac at right. Madera Canyon, Arizona, last week.

Please leave a comment telling us how you celebrate Jumping Spider Day, and/or Arachtober. Did you have a phobia that you were able to overcome? Do you make art involving arachnids? Maybe you have a pet spider? While I do not accept unsolicited images here, you are welcome to include a link to images you have elsewhere. Enjoy the rest of the month!