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Sticker of Bold jumping spider
Bug card No. 0168 of 1,500

Bold jumping spider

Phidippus audax
Name means: “bold, because it sometimes jumps right onto a hand that threatens it”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

It has huge eyes and can see better than any other kind of spider. It does not build a web. Instead it sneaks up on bugs and pounces on them.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
North America, and brought to Hawaii, the Azores and the Netherlands
Length
0.6 to 1.5 cm (0.24 to 0.59 in)
Top speed
about 1.3 km/h (0.81 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
It hunts caterpillars, grasshoppers, dragonflies and even other spiders by stalking and jumping on them.
For real!Photo of Bold jumping spider
Picture by Kaldari. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Bold jumping spider about 1.5 cm long (0.59 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 2.8 secondsmoves 24 times its own body length every second

How big is Bold jumping spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It has eight eyes set around its head, so it can see almost all the way around.

2

A male dances for a female, waving his legs so she can watch him.

3

Its name audax means bold, because it sometimes jumps onto the hand of a person who comes too close.

4

Baby bold jumpers have orange spots that turn white as they grow up.

5

It is one of the most common spiders on farms, where it eats lots of crop pests.

you asked

Most asked questions about Bold jumping spider

?Do jumping spiders make webs?

Not to catch food. The bold jumping spider hunts by sneaking up and pouncing.

?How big is a bold jumping spider?

Females are 8 to 15 millimetres long and males 6 to 13 millimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Phidippus audax
Named by
Hentz, 1845
Group
Spiders
Family
Salticidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Salticidae
Lives on
North America, Europe
Also known as
Bold jumper, Daring jumping spider

Where the facts come from

  1. Phidippus audax (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Kaldari. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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