Jumping Spider - Salticidae

The Jumping Spiders have always been one of my favorites. They have eyes like headlights. They are very responsive to a finger pointed at them and will turn to face it. And they can jump several inches. The Jumping spiders catch their prey by pouncing on it rather than with a web. And the most common California Jumping Spider is quite colorful with its red, white and black markings. This first Jumping Spider has a small cricket or grasshopper that it probably found in the mulch nearby. The second posed on my trash can and eventually jumped onto my camera lens for a real closeup. A small 6-8mm Jumping Spider from the Mediterrenean part of Europe has been in California, Menemerus semilimbatus, they have brown, black and white markings. This one was making a living just under the lip of the door to a drum composter. A little bit of webbing held a few flies, past meals.