The Maryland Department of Natural Resources released a profile on October 19, 2026, detailing the characteristics and behaviors of jumping spiders, a family known as Salticidae. The agency notes that this family includes nearly 7,000 species globally, with about 65 species found in Maryland, showcasing a variety of forms and hunting techniques.
Press Release: Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Published October 19, 2026. Reproduced in full from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Native Animal Profile: Jumping Spiders (Family Salticidae)
Peppered Jumping Spider on Tickseed Sunflower by Lisa Mayo, Maryland DNR Photo Contest 2023
A teeny tiny creature with a fuzzy face and giant eyes, obviously we’re discussing .. jumping spiders! (If you were thinking kitten, close enough!)
Although their presence can sometimes be startling, jumping spiders are perhaps one of the best known of the families of spiders around us. This is for good reason! Salticidae, the family to which jumping spiders belong, is the largest spider family, with nearly 7,000 species described in scientific literature, making up 13% of all spider species. In Maryland, we host about 65 of those species, six of which are not native. Those species show incredible variation in shape, ranging from what we might consider a more “traditional” spider to ant-mimics and even beetle mimics! Their form belies their function; these spiders are stealthy hunters, and looking like insects allows them to get close to their prey.
Ant-mimic Jumping Spider, Synemosyna formica, Carderock Park, Carderock, Maryland
By Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Spider Sense?
Jumping spiders have some incredible senses!
The members of the Salticidae family have eight eyes, arranged in four sets, placed in such a way that some species are able to see nearly all the way around them. In most species, one of the sets is not usable, a remnant of ancestral use, but in some species these eyes are still used as motion detectors. Jumping spiders also have incredibly good color vision, with eyes sensitive to UV light. This leads to the ability to see patterns visible to humans only under UV lights, and it’s been observed that some jumping spider species have four photoreceptors, compared to three for humans.
Bold jumping spiders (Phildippus audax) are able to combine their incredible eyesight with the surprisingly acute problem solving of the jumping spider family, and have the ability to learn by watching, a rare feature for such a tiny animal.
Jump Around!
“Salticidae” comes from the Latin root “saltus” meaning “leap” and to no one’s surprise, jumping spiders are known for their incredible vaulting.
Jumping spiders don’t build webs to catch dinner, instead relying on stalking and leaping to catch food, at which point they bite to immobilize their prey. This means how they move is integral to their survival. How far they can jump varies widely by species, but the Colonus puerperus, found in Maryland, has been known to jump as much as 38 times their own body length.
Another important element to jumping spider’s hunting is their use of silk as a tether. By attaching themselves to a stable point before moving, including while jumping, they provide themselves a safety line to return to where they started. Likewise, it’s been shown that their silk “dragline” actually helps with stabilizing their jumps, and slowing their descent when necessary. (Read more about the engineering applications of spider silk.)
Where does a spider without a web live? Jumping spiders have solved this problem by making “tents” to sleep in during the night, through bad weather, and even through the winter.
Jumping spider in a constructed shelter. Photo by Joshua Fisher, submitted to the 2023 DNR Photo Contest, second place winner in spring category.
The Sweet Spot
While spiders are generally carnivores, eating mostly insects and other small invertebrates, some jumping spiders have been observed to eat pollen and even drink nectar. One study from 2001 found that spiders in a lab setting chose sugar solutions over distilled water, pointing to the conclusion that this behavior was not just in search of hydration. In total, 90 species were tested in the study, and all of them drank from presented flowers, and from the sucrose solution as well as the distilled water, spending more time with the sucrose solution than the water without nutritional value.
Jumping Spider on Fleabane by Larry Helms, submitted to the 2016 DNR Photo Contest, second place winner in the summer category.
Several of the species in the 2001 study were native to Maryland, including the fuzzy canopy jumper (Phidippus otiosus), the Common Hentz jumper (Hentzia palmarum), the ant-mimicking Peckhamia americana, the alien-looking magnolia green jumper (Lyssomanes viridis), and the crab-like hammerjawed jumper (Zygoballus rufipes).
This jumping spider, native to Maryland (and the rest of North America), seems to be feeding on the stem of the plant it rests on. Brilliant Jumping Spider (Phidippus clarus), Guelph, Ontario
by Ryan Hodnett, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This isn’t the only unusual feeding habit of jumping spiders; a 2016 summary of research showed that some ant-mimicking jumping spiders (Peckhamia genus included, of which Peckhamia americana is a Maryland resident) are able to approach nectar sources fiercely guarded by ants and amicably share the resource. This points to how effective their mimicry is, and gives us all a standard to reach for when trying to sneak into parties to steal cookies.
While jumping spiders clearly have a love of plants, the feeling may be mutual. A study of jumping spiders in New Jersey showed that sensitive partridge pea (Chamaecrista nictitans) plants on which jumping spiders resided and ate from, produced significantly more seed than those without a resident spider. The benefit seems to be directly related to the spider feeding on the plant as well, as the plants with a spider did not experience less plant predation from other bugs.
This all has not even scratched the surface of the myriad ways jumping spiders dance their way through what we think of as “spider behavior.” The next time you see a fuzzy face with big eyes looking back at you, stop and consider the tiny Salticidaes- and maybe offer them a flower.
For more about spiders, please read on:
A Brief Guide to Maryland Spiders
Fear-busting Creepy Critters: Spiders
University of Maryland: Spiders in Maryland
Dancing, Deception and Cannibalism: The myths and realities of Maryland spiders
