Brown Jumping spiders

I encountered these spiders for the first time on my passion vine. They germinated on my birthday in 2017. By 2018 they had healthy leaves which secretes sweet juice. Ants feasted on this, but I was surprised to find a jumping spider feeding on it too. Nonetheless, it did.

Jumping spider on passion vine

Jumping spider on passion vine

 

The spider cleans its legs after meal, Watch till the end to estimate the size

Jumping spider eating ant mimicking spider

This photo is one of the best clicks I have taken. 

I spotted one Jumping spider who had hunted down another spider. The prey looks like an ant, but it is a spider called Ant mimicking spider. They can easily be identified because they move their front legs gracefully and are always alone unlike ants. They stay in a folded leaf covered in dense web, It sheds its skin and emerges as a longer spider with a protrusion in its head.

I have spotted smaller jumping spiders too. One of them curiously looked around when it was put on the floor, and ran towards the eyepiece.

Jumping Spider in Tulsi Plant

I found a jumping spider hiding in Tulsi plant too. I brought it to the floor and held a piece of mirror in front of it. the spider was surprised to see its reflection. After an eternal contemplation at its image, the spider hit the surface of the mirror and ran away from it.Whenever it saw the mirror again it frantically ran away. Basically, It cannot identify its own reflection.

Contemplating Spider

Jumping spider seeing its image

Jumping Spider intimidated by my giant finger

There is one thing I have see in common for all jumping spiders-- When they see the eyepiece lens, they jump towards it.

The jumping spiders build a web in leaves where they shed their skin and emerge bigger. The web can be seen in the beginning of video. The video was taken with the eyepiece and later zoomed out. Watch till the end to get an idea of the size.

I hope this has made your distaste for creepy spiders and bit lesser than before. Thank you for reading!

Be gentle.