Weird Spider -- Should I Kill It!?

[Blackmail!]

Frankly, you can't compare our nice innocent-looking Jumping spiders, with one of these brown, soft, long-legged Wolf spiders.

The two groups have almost nothing in common, besides the fact they're spiders.


As I said, Jumping spiders have a very complex neural system (a true brain, rather than a decentralized cord of paired neural ganglions, like what you would find amongst insects). This allows quick, sophisticated movements, a wide array of behaviors, almost emotion-like and often very comical. No other spiders can emulate this, because most of them are hopelessly stupid, even for invertebrates.

Jumping Spider Vision

The brain is shown in blue...

Salticidae are very odd creatures. They are funny to observe because of these quick reflexes, and also because they are very curious. Usually, they won't flee away from your fingers, they will try to understand what this is. Thus, they are sometimes considered as being inquisitive creatures. And again, they can stare at you, focus their vision directly towards your face: they have an excellent stereoscopic eyesight (better than many mammals), and a very large part of their brain is dedicated for image processing only. A wolf spider would be able only to notice movements... and not details, shapes, colours with a very high resolution, just like our jumping spiders would. They belong to completely different families!
When a jumping spider is staring at you, it is really looking at you: direct eye to eye contact.

Many jumping spider species are the masters of mimicry. Here, we have one which is shaped like an ant. Even its forelegs move like antennas!

[YOUTUBE="3ZLtRfsrCcs"]Thai jumping spiders[/YOUTUBE]

And here are some extracts of their surprisingly elaborate courting ceremonies:

[YOUTUBE="UTbHpV_zFjE"]Jumping spiders courting[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE="D92AUXhYZ0M"]Same with sound[/YOUTUBE]

They are exactly like birds, somehow. The male tries to seduce his loving one thanks to his bright colours, and many other visual and audio signals.

 

[Synarch]

As I said, Jumping spiders have a very complex neural system (a true brain, rather than a decentralized cord of paired neural ganglions, like what you would find amongst insects). This allows quick, sophisticated movements, a wide array of behaviors, almost emotion-like and often very comical. No other spiders can emulate this, because most of them are hopelessly stupid, even for invertebrates.

Blackmail! great videos! Maybe intelligence is correlated with predation? Seems like predators must be intelligent to outmaneuver their quarry. Typical spiders are not really predators.

 

[Blackmail!]

Typical spiders are not really predators.

"Typical" spiders are passive predators that rely on instincts, while our tiny Jumping spiders are active predators that have to rely on reflexes and memory. Those animals are exceptionally gifted when they need to evaluate distances, or what is really edible for them.

 

[cascadeco]

Blackmail!! Awesome posts! Thanks for the info.

Now I like jumping spiders even more.

(Whenever I used to find them in my old apartment on a piece of furniture or something, I'd try to transport them to one of my plants. Given their jumping abilities, this was sometimes challenging, but usually I was able to do it without too much trouble and I was always happy to see them in some soil or on a plant leaf rather than a sterile surface. Sadly, I haven't seen them much in my new place.)

 

[Samvega]

Ohmygawd. That is the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life.

I don't know what to say, I just can't find the worlds honestly. I don't know you well, I'm worried I'd make you cry. I can't decide if I wanna hear a sound bite of you saying that or if it would make me wanna shoot myself. I'm almost sure the "Ohmygawd" part makes me wanna puke but I may think it's cute. I feel dirty now, I need a shower. Can you please explain yourself a little more?

 

[Tigerlily]

If it's in the house kill it or relocate it outside and hopefully there's not an egg sac lying around. I've got nothing against spider's but prefer them outdoors.

When we first moved to Raleigh we lived in an apartment on the ground floor (easier to get our then one and two year old children inside). It was early March and I went to move a box from the bedroom to the closet and a huge wolf spider came running out.

Of course I almost died having never seen a spider that big before!!

It didn't end there. They were running all over the damn place. Jumping ones too! My fear of them diminished and I became and an expert at bashing them with any shoe that was lying around. Thinking back not I'm not sure why didn't have this guy come out!

When we bought our home I made sure it was elevated by a crawl space to keep critters out. I still see them in the yard from time to time and have seen the occasional black widow. Not sure if I've seen a brown recluse being as they kind of blend in with other brown spiders.

 

[am_i_evil666]

Ewwwww, spiders are sooo scary. I would say that you kill it, or just get rid of it!!! :horor:

 

[Eric B]

:horor:They have monsters like that in the Eastern US? (and not even that far south)!
That looks more like something you see in South America!
In VA, I remember big daddy longlegs (harvestmen, which are considered a different species of arachnid from a spider, and they are just as thin legged/small bodied as the house spiders up north). My brother says that I pointed out some hideous big spider in that state once (around the Natural Bridge attraction), but I did not remember it. I usually remember spiders I've seen, but perhaps I blocked it out or something.

 

[Blackmail!]

:horor:They have monsters like that in the Eastern US? (and not even that far south)!
That looks more like something you see in South America!

Actually, the largest wolf spiders on Earth are supposed to be Hogna carolinensis females, with a body up to one inch long.

And this specie, just as its name suggests, hails from the US east coast, and especially Carolina...

Anyway! Wolf spiders are mostly harmless (although disgusting to some), even when they bite. Unless, of course, you live in Australia. But every living beings in Australia are poisonous (insects, arachnids, fishes, lizards, mammals, birds, octopus, snails... etc), so somehow that's an exception to rules.

Wolf spiders neural system remains extremely primitive, compared to Salticid's.

 

[Nonsensical]

Kill the devil!!!

edit: sorry, I took a few moments to regain sanity. It's probably just a jumping spider. They're small, scared, and most likely harmless. Let it be.

 

[Misty_Mountain_Rose]

Yes, but what do they like to read? They won't be just attracted by any old literature.

Charlotte's Web. Naturally.

Aaaaghhhhhh! Stop quoting that pic

Not good, not good, not good *rocks back and forth*

I'm with you Trinity. I think every hair on my body stood up when I looked at it, and I could hardly look away. Horrifying.

(Whenever I used to find them in my old apartment on a piece of furniture or something, I'd try to transport them to one of my plants. Given their jumping abilities, this was sometimes challenging, but usually I was able to do it without too much trouble and I was always happy to see them in some soil or on a plant leaf rather than a sterile surface. Sadly, I haven't seen them much in my new place.)

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!

Every time I tell my old room mate I killed a spider he says 'what did it look like'. I have never (EVER) stopped long enough to inspect a spider before I either sprayed it to death with hairspray, trapped it under a cup or squished it with a shoe. All I see is a dot with a bunch of legs running around and think 'GET IT BEFORE IT ESCAPES TO COME BACK AND EAT YOU LATER!!'. I blame stories of how many spiders a person supposedly eats in their sleep in a lifetime (I slept on, yes ON my chin for a lot of years as a kid because a friend told me this)

That being said, if I'm outside and see one in a web or climbing somewhere that it belongs, I'm completely OK with them and let them be. I think there's just something about having them in my house that freaks the crap out of me.

Go figure.

 

[Costrin]

I blame stories of how many spiders a person supposedly eats in their sleep in a lifetime (I slept on, yes ON my chin for a lot of years as a kid because a friend told me this)

Which is a myth, btw.

snopes.com: Spiders Swallowed Per Year

 

[Misty_Mountain_Rose]

Which is a myth, btw.

snopes.com: Spiders Swallowed Per Year

*Huge sigh of relief*

 

[ThinkingAboutIt]

We have gray jumping spiders here - they never bother you and are neat to watch.

 

[Shaula]

So update on the spider....

I was cool with it hanging around my window but now it's ventured into my clothing. (I think my cat had something to do with it.) Now I'm all paranoid that I'm going to find it there again or that it will lay babies in my pants.

 

[Athenian200]

Well, normally I advocate killing anything that has more than four legs. I probably would have screamed for someone to kill it in real life without investigating what it was if I had seen that thing.

Hearing people talk about how it has a brain is making me feel empathy (and guilt for what my instinctive reaction would have been) for it, though. Now I'm not so sure you should harm it.

The moral and emotional complexity of a situation involving a potentially intelligent, gross insect-like thing is astounding.

About those pictures that Jen showed... I had no idea spiders could get that big. I thought it was one of those Octopuses that could walk on land at first.

 

[Blackmail!]

About those pictures that Jen showed... I had no idea spiders could get that big. I thought it was one of those Octopuses that could walk on land at first.

The largest spiders on Earth are primitive, slow-moving tarantulas that live in the Guyana forest (South America), especially Theraphosa leblondi, the Goliath birdeater.

This image gives you approximately the actual size of the animal (about 1 foot in diameter).

---

But the brain of a tiny 1/2 inch Jumping spider is several times larger than the one belonging to a Theraphosa.

The moral and emotional complexity of a situation involving a potentially intelligent, gross insect-like thing is astounding.

What I enjoy with Salticids, is the fact they're curious animals, always eager to play and interact with their surroundings. Many are fearless, bold and daring (hence the "Daring jumping spider", Phiddipus audax, which is a common specie through the US). They always want to know what's going on around them, so they make their own little investigations. If you point a camera on them, most of the time they won't flee. Instead, they would probably jump on the camera to check the lens or the leds, and try to understand what this is, before jumping back to their territory.

They really have nothing in common with any other spiders.

For instance:

[YOUTUBE="3je0wtGFO1Q"]A jumping spider and a cursor[/YOUTUBE]

(Yes, they can climb on a computer's screen)

And they are the only terrestrial invertebrates that seem fascinated with mirrors, that can react to their own reflexion.

 

[mortabunt]

It's just a jumping spider. They're relatively cute. Is it jut me, or do INTP's have a fear of spiders .

 

[TopherRed]

Well, your communicative opposites certainly do.

 

[Fuulie]

That video is absolutely adorable.
I always thought jumping spiders to be more personable than most other insects.