Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Zebra spi­ders have a Ho­l­arc­tic dis­tri­b­u­tion. They are na­tive to Eu­rope, where they are found through­out the con­ti­nent, but are also found through­out North Amer­ica north of Mex­ico to south­ern Canada, where it is be­lieved that they are an in­tro­duced species. This species has also been recorded across Rus­sia, with ad­di­tional records from Afghanistan, Green­land, Ice­land, Kaza­khstan, Nige­ria and Ar­gentina. (Bartlett, 2011; Foelix, 2011; Mur­phy, 2013; Nieuwen­huys, 2009; Robin­son, 2005)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • introduced
• palearctic
  • native
• neotropical
  • introduced

• Other Geographic Terms
• holarctic

Habi­tat

Zebra spi­ders are a ter­res­trial, urban species of spi­der. These spi­ders are com­monly seen on ver­ti­cal sur­faces such as walls, fences, win­dow panes. They also live in forests, mead­ows, and gar­dens. (Foelix, 2011; Milne and Milne, 1980; Robin­son, 2005; "Zebra Spi­der", 2010)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest

• Other Habitat Features
• urban
• suburban

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Ze­bras spi­ders are small, rang­ing from 4-7 mm in size. Fe­males are larger than males and usu­ally range from 4-6.5 mm while males range from 4-5.5 mm. They have 3-4 white stripes on their ab­domens; those at the base of the ab­domen are com­plete, while those in the mid­dle are nar­row or bro­ken. The ab­domen is longer and nar­rower than the cephalotho­rax. Males have a more elab­o­rate strip­ing pat­tern on their legs. In males, the che­licerae are larger than in fe­males and ex­tend al­most hor­i­zon­tally. (Foelix, 2011; Milne and Milne, 1980; Robin­son, 2005; Ubick, et al., 2005; Weber, 2003)

These spi­ders have eight eyes arranged in three rows, with two pairs of eyes in the front row and one pair in each of the other rows. The main AME (an­te­rior me­dian eyes), which are lo­cated in the cen­ter of the first row of eyes, are ex­tremely large and are used for binoc­u­lar vi­sion. The ALE (an­te­rior lat­eral eyes) are smaller than the AME and are lo­cated in the first row of eyes. This is a char­ac­ter­is­tic of spi­ders in the fam­ily Salti­ci­dae. The eyes in the sec­ond row pro­vide vi­sion in the for­ward di­rec­tion while the final row of eyes allow the spi­der to look up­ward. (Foelix, 2011; Milne and Milne, 1980; Robin­son, 2005; Ubick, et al., 2005; Weber, 2003)

These spi­ders are cov­ered in hair. They have cush­ions of hair called scop­u­lae on their legs and feet. The scop­u­lae lo­cated on the bot­tom of their feet are par­tic­u­larly dense and are the only part of the spi­ders' body that touches the sub­strate. These hairs in­crease the sur­face area of the feet and work by ad­he­sive forces, which al­lows jump­ing spi­ders to stick to smooth, ver­ti­cal sub­strates. (Foelix, 2011; Milne and Milne, 1980; Robin­son, 2005; Ubick, et al., 2005; Weber, 2003)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry
• venomous

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• sexes shaped differently

• Range length

  4.0 to 7.0 mm

  0.16 to 0.28 in

• Average length

  4.0-6.5 mm

  in

De­vel­op­ment

Spi­ders de­velop in an egg sac that is usu­ally hid­den under a rock. De­vel­op­ment con­sists of an em­bry­onic pe­riod, a lar­val pe­riod, a nympho-imag­i­nal pe­riod, and adult­hood. The em­bry­onic pe­riod be­gins when the egg is fer­til­ized. In the lar­val stage, the spi­der sur­vives on yolk from the egg and still lacks any dis­tin­guish­able mor­pho­log­i­cal fea­tures. The nympho-imag­i­nal pe­riod fol­lows the lar­val pe­riod. "Nymph" refers to the ju­ve­nile spi­der, while "imago" refers to the adult. Dur­ing this phase, the spi­der de­vel­ops func­tion­ing organ sys­tems and hatches. Molt­ing oc­curs be­tween each of these de­vel­op­ment stages. In salti­cid spi­ders, ju­ve­niles un­dergo 5-11 in­stars be­fore be­com­ing an adult. (Foelix, 2011; Ubick, et al., 2005; Weber, 2003)

Re­pro­duc­tion

All salti­cid spi­ders have courtship rit­u­als in which the male per­forms for the fe­male. This is a vi­sual rit­ual re­ly­ing heav­ily on eye­sight. Males use the stripped mark­ings on their legs to at­tract a fe­male. A male spi­der will dance in a zigzag pat­tern mov­ing his pedi­palps, front legs, and ab­domen. Dur­ing the dance, the fe­male watches the male. If the fe­male ac­cepts the male, she crouches down, thereby sig­nal­ing that the male may ap­proach her. While still fac­ing the fe­male, the male climbs on top of her, and she ori­ents her ab­domen so that he can in­sert sperm into her gen­i­tal open­ing. (Foelix, 2011; Weber, 2003)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Zebra spi­ders breed in spring and early sum­mer. Spe­cific in­for­ma­tion about num­ber of off­spring and time from egg de­po­si­tion to in­de­pen­dence is cur­rently un­avail­able, as is in­for­ma­tion re­gard­ing time to sex­ual ma­tu­rity. It is likely that, as with most tem­per­ate spi­der species, fe­males reach ma­tu­rity at some point in their first year of life, with males ma­tur­ing some­what ear­lier. (Foelix, 2011; Weber, 2003)

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • internal
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Zebra spiders breed once yearly

• Breeding season

  Spring and early summer

Salti­cid species keep their eggs in a co­coon spun from silk. The mother closely guards the eggs until they hatch. Fe­male zebra spi­ders guard their young until after the young have had their sec­ond molt. The young spi­der­lings then dis­perse and must care for them­selves. ("Zebra Spi­der", 2008; Milne and Milne, 1980; Ubick, et al., 2005)

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Lit­tle in­for­ma­tion is avail­able re­gard­ing the longevity of zebra spi­ders in the wild, but most spi­ders liv­ing in tem­per­ate re­gions live for one to two years. In cap­tiv­ity, the life ex­pectancy of zebra spi­ders is two to three years, with fe­males gen­er­ally liv­ing longer than males. (Foelix, 2011; "Zebra Spi­der", 2010)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  1 to 2 years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  2 to 3 years

Be­hav­ior

Zebra spi­ders are a wan­der­ing, soli­tary species of spi­der. Un­like many spi­ders, this species does not build webs. They do still have small spin­nerets, from which they cre­ate drag line silk that is used when hunt­ing prey. This silk is non-sticky and is used as an an­chor while hunt­ing so that the spi­der does not fall off the sub­strate while jump­ing on its prey. Salti­cid species build small shel­ters from silk under ground cov­er­ing such as leaves, stones, or tree bark. These an­i­mals are di­ur­nal and can often be seen hunt­ing in sunny areas. ("Zebra Spi­der", 2010; Dill, 1975; Foelix, 2011; Milne and Milne, 1980; Ubick, et al., 2005; Weber, 2003)

In salti­cid species, ag­gres­sive, often rit­u­al­ized be­hav­ior can be seen be­tween males if they meet dur­ing courtship. When males meet, they raise and lower their front legs in a threat­en­ing man­ner. The male that is the most ag­gres­sive (often, but not nec­es­sar­ily al­ways the largest) in­di­vid­ual wins. (Faber and Baylis, 1993; Foelix, 2011)

Like other salti­cids, zebra spi­ders are salta­to­r­ial and rely on their jump­ing abil­i­ties to catch prey. When hunt­ing, the spi­der lo­cates prey using its eyes and then turns to face its prey. These large eyes allow them to form ac­tual im­ages and sense fast move­ments, which al­lows them to catch prey more eas­ily. If the de­ci­sion is made to con­tinue the hunt, the spi­der crouches down and stalks its prey. This is done di­rectly to­wards the tar­get, un­less the prey item is large. If it is, the spi­der cir­cles around and ap­proaches from be­hind. When the spi­der is close, it at­taches a drag line to the sub­strate and jumps on the prey with its forelegs ex­tended. The prey is quickly bit­ten to im­mo­bi­lize it, and eaten. ("Zebra Spi­der", 2010; Dill, 1975)

• Key Behaviors
• saltatorial
• diurnal
• motile
• solitary

Home Range

No in­for­ma­tion is avail­able on the home range of this species.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Zebra spi­ders have very large, well-de­vel­oped frontal eyes. Un­like those of most spi­ders, which can only per­ceive mo­tion, the eyes of jump­ing spi­ders can form de­tailed im­ages. They have well-de­vel­oped reti­nas that move in­de­pen­dently of each other, and large lenses. Vi­sual stim­uli are used in hunt­ing, courtship rit­u­als, and to es­cape from preda­tors. (Foelix, 2011)

Vi­bra­tions and chem­i­cal stim­uli are also used in hunt­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tions. While hunt­ing, salti­cids can rec­og­nize their prey based on the vi­bra­tions the an­i­mal cre­ates when it lands on the sub­strate. Prey items such as flies pro­duce high fre­quency vi­bra­tions com­pared to back­ground noise. Spi­ders can also per­ceive their en­vi­ron­ment through senses of smell and taste. Tast­ing oc­curs when a spi­der's con­tact chemore­cep­tors, lo­cated on the legs and palps, come into con­tact with a sub­stance of a high con­cen­tra­tion, while volatile sub­stances can be sensed by ol­fac­tion in smaller con­cen­tra­tions. Fe­males re­lease sex pheromones to at­tract males. (Foelix, 2011)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones
• vibrations

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• vibrations
• chemical

Food Habits

Zebra spi­ders are ac­tive preda­tors that feed pri­mar­ily on in­sects, and can catch prey that is much larger than their body size. Their pri­mary prey are dipter­ans, which in­cludes mos­qui­tos and flies. They do, how­ever, also prey on small spi­ders, and will even eat mem­bers of their own species. When can­ni­bal­ism oc­curs, the smaller spi­der is al­ways the vic­tim. Zebra spi­ders use their ex­cel­lent vi­sion to lo­cate their prey. (Foelix, 2011; Nieuwen­huys, 2009; Okuyama, 2007)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore

• Animal Foods
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

Pre­da­tion

Spi­der wasps and man­tises are known preda­tors of zebra spi­ders. Zebra spi­ders have neu­tral col­oration which helps them blend into their en­vi­ron­ment. They are heav­ily re­liant on their eye­sight to es­cape preda­tors. (Foelix, 2011; Milne and Milne, 1980; Orkin, 2011)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • Spider wasps (Family Pompilidae, Order Hymenoptera)
  • Mantises (Order Mantodea, Class Insecta)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Zebra spi­ders are preda­tors that feed on a va­ri­ety of or­gan­isms. They pri­mar­ily feed on flies and mos­qui­tos, but have also been known to eat but­ter­flies and moths, ants, wasps, and bees, ci­cadas, and spi­ders. (Dill, 1975; Foelix, 2011; Okuyama, 2007; Orkin, 2011)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Zebra spi­ders pri­mar­ily feed on flies and mos­qui­toes. These or­gan­isms are human pests and dis­ease vec­tors. Pre­da­tion by zebra spi­ders can help to keep pop­u­la­tions of these pests in check. (Okuyama, 2007)

• Positive Impacts
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Zebra spi­ders, like most spi­ders, pro­duce a venom from glands lo­cated in­side the che­licerae. How­ever, this species is very small and a bite is un­likely to cause in­jury to a human, or even be able to pierce their skin. (Foelix, 2011)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

This species has not been eval­u­ated by the IUCN red list and has no spe­cial con­ser­va­tion sta­tus. (IUCN 2012, 2012)

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

Some flies (Order Diptera) are known to mimic spi­ders from the fam­ily Salti­ci­dae in order to es­cape preda­tors. (Foelix, 2011)

Con­trib­u­tors

Kelsey Libbe (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Je­remy Wright (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

2010. "Zebra Spi­der" (On-line). Its Na­ture. Ac­cessed March 21, 2012 at http://​www.​itsnature.​org/​ground/​creepy-crawlies-land/​zebra-spider/​.

BBC. 2008. "Zebra Spi­der" (On-line). Sci­ence and Na­ture: An­i­mals. Ac­cessed March 22, 2012 at http://​www.​bbc.​co.​uk/​nature/​wildfacts/​factfiles/​350.​shtml.

Ar­nett, R. 1986. The in­sect and spi­der col­lec­tions of the world. Gainesville, FL: E.J. Brill/Flora & Fauna Pub­li­ca­tions.

Bartlett, T. 2011. "Species Salti­cus sceni­cus - Zebra Jumper" (On-line). Bug­Guide. Ac­cessed March 21, 2012 at http://​bugguide.​net/​node/​view/​3344.

Det­tner, K., G. Hub­ner. 2000. Hy­per­par­a­sitoid de­fense strate­gies against spi­ders: the role of chem­i­cal and mor­pho­log­i­cal pro­tec­tion. En­to­molo­gia Ex­per­i­men­talis Et Ap­pli­cata, 97: 67-74. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 01, 2012 at http://​www.​mendeley.​com/​research/​hyperparasitoid-defense-strategies-against-spiders-the-role-of-chemical-and-morphological/​.

Dill, L. 1975. Preda­tory be­hav­ior of the zebra spi­der, Salti­cus sceni­cus (Araneae: Salti­ci­dae). Cana­dian Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, 53: 1284-1289. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 22, 2012 at http://​www.​nrcresearchpress.​com/​doi/​abs/​10.​1139/​z75-153.

Faber, D., J. Baylis. 1993. Ef­fects of body size on ag­o­nis­tic en­coun­ters be­tween male jump­ing spi­ders (Araneae: Salti­ci­dae). An­i­mal Be­hav­iour, 45/2: 289-299.

Foelix, R. 2011. Bi­ol­ogy of Spi­ders. New York: Ox­ford Press.

Gosline, J., C. Or­tlepp. 2008. The scal­ing of safety fac­tor in spi­der draglines. Jour­nal of Ex­per­i­men­tal Bi­ol­ogy, 211/17: 2832-2840. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 01, 2012 at http://​jeb.​biologists.​org/​content/​211/​17/​2832.​short.

IUCN 2012, 2012. "The IUCN Redlist of Threat­ened Species" (On-line). Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 21, 2013 at www.​iucnredlist.​org.

Milne, L., M. Milne. 1980. The Na­tional Audubon So­ci­ety field guide to North Amer­i­can in­sects and spi­ders. New York: Ran­dom House.

Mur­phy, J. 2013. "The Check­list of British Spi­ders" (On-line). Web­site of the British Arach­no­log­i­cal So­ci­ety. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 21, 2013 at http://​wiki.​britishspiders.​org.​uk/​index.​php5?​title=The_​Checklist_​of_​British_​Spiders.

Nieuwen­huys, E. 2009. "Jump­ing Spi­ders" (On-line). Fam­ily Salti­ci­dae. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 08, 2012 at http://​ednieuw.​home.​xs4all.​nl/​Spiders/​Salticidae/​Salticidae.​htm.

Okuyama, T. 2007. Prey of two species of jump­ing spi­ders in the field. Ap­plied En­to­mol­ogy and Zo­ol­ogy, 42: 663-668. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 22, 2012 at http://​www.​americanarachnology.​org/​JoA_​free/​JoA_​v5_​n2/​JoA_​v5_​p145.​pdf.

Orkin, 2011. "Jump­ing Spi­der Preda­tors" (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 22, 2012 at http://​www.​orkin.​com/​other/​spiders/​jumping-spider-predators.

Robin­son, W. 2005. Urban In­sects and Arach­nids: A Hand­book of Urban En­to­mol­ogy. New York: Cam­bridge Uni­ver­sity Press.

Roit­berg, B., E. Mon­dor, J. Ty­er­man. 2003. Pounc­ing spi­der, fly­ing mos­quito: blood ac­qui­si­tion in­creases pre­da­tion risk in mos­qui­toes. Be­hav­ioral Ecol­ogy, 14/5: 736-740. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 24, 2012 at http://​beheco.​oxfordjournals.​org/​content/​14/​5/​736.​short.

Schmitz, A., S. Perry. 2001. Bi­modal breath­ing in jump­ing spi­ders: mor­pho­me­t­ric par­ti­tion­ing of the lungs and tra­cheae in Salti­cus sceni­cus (Arach­nida, Araneae, Salti­ci­dae). The Jour­nal of ex­per­i­men­tal bi­ol­ogy, 204: 4321-4334. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 24, 2012 at http://​www.​ncbi.​nlm.​nih.​gov/​pubmed/​11815656.

Schmitz, A., S. Perry. 2000. Res­pi­ra­tory sys­tem of arach­nids I: mor­phol­ogy of the res­pi­ra­tory sys­tem of Salti­cus sceni­cus and Eu­ophrys lanig­era (Arach­nida, Araneae, Salti­ci­dae). Arthro­pod Struc­ture & De­vel­op­ment, 29: 3-12. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 22, 2012 at http://​www.​mendeley.​com/​research/​respiratory-system-arachnids-i-morphology-respiratory-system-salticus-scenicus-euophrys-lanigera-arachnida-araneae-salticidae/​.

Ubick, D., P. Paquin, P. Cush­ing, V. Roth. 2005. Spi­ders of North Amer­ica : an iden­ti­fi­ca­tion man­ual. United States: Amer­i­can Arach­no­log­i­cal So­ci­ety.

Weber, L. 2003. Spi­ders of the North Woods. Du­luth, MN: Kol­lath-Sten­saas Pub..