Oh My God What Happened to My Spider???

[The Snark]

Here is an interesting observation on iNaturalist of two female Eris militaris standing off for territory.

It ?could? be two (maybe pre penultimate) males. Hard to tell. Need someone who can ID sex by appearance here.

Here's some lovely pics of them: https://arboretum.uoguelph.ca/eris-militaris

 

[Nicole C G]

It ?could? be two (maybe pre penultimate) males. Hard to tell. Need someone who can ID sex by appearance here.

Here's some lovely pics of them: https://arboretum.uoguelph.ca/eris-militaris

The Subjects in the photos were identified as female Eris militaris females by Wayne Maddison, a specialist in jumping spiders. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Maddison

We are getting a bit off topic, if you wish to continue this discussion we can do it over private chat or a separate thread. Anyways, do not combine jumping spiders into the same enclosure.

 

[The Snark]

Anyways, do not combine jumping spiders into the same enclosure.

Most certainly. People need to undertake a complex calculation. In situ + Darwin's theory = ?? In essence, don't create an environment where natural selection becomes an eventual evolutionary dead end. Animals are hardwired to live in concert with each other in a natural habitat. Just because your enclosure is aesthetically appealing doesn't rule out rampant internecine warfare and sole survivor disasters

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Here is an interesting observation on iNaturalist of two female Eris militaris standing off for territory. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/18632679

That's my observation! It was really cool to watch them dance around each other. At first I thought it might be a mating dance.

It ?could? be two (maybe pre penultimate) males. Hard to tell. Need someone who can ID sex by appearance here.

Here's some lovely pics of them: https://arboretum.uoguelph.ca/eris-militaris

The Subjects in the photos were identified as female Eris militaris females by Wayne Maddison, a specialist in jumping spiders. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Maddison

We are getting a bit off topic, if you wish to continue this discussion we can do it over private chat or a separate thread. Anyways, do not combine jumping spiders into the same enclosure.

I showed the photos and a bit of video on Twitter and Wayne was kind enough to identify the species, sex, and behaviour for me.

 

[Nicole C G]

That's my observation! It was really cool to watch them dance around each other. At first I thought it might be a mating dance.




I showed the photos and a bit of video on Twitter and Wayne was kind enough to identify the species, sex, and behaviour for me.

Ha! Awesome! It’s a small world. Also, It’s a wonderful observation!

 

[The Snark]

I showed the photos and a bit of video on Twitter and Wayne was kind enough to identify the species, sex, and behaviour for me.

Could you start another thread using that video? Again, going by observations, that confrontation is unusual. Males maintain, or try to maintain some distance where they can leap onto the adversary's back. That up in each others face appeared decidedly different to me. Certainly a confrontation but on another level that didn't involve the normal predatorial instincts - motor functions.
When males fight and they got too close they side step, always maintaining full eye contact while having enough room for the little jump-bite. In other words, is there a different set of hardwired instructions, rarely used and possibly not even present in some other species?

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Could you start another thread using that video? Again, going by observations, that confrontation is unusual. Males maintain, or try to maintain some distance where they can leap onto the adversary's back. That up in each others face appeared decidedly different to me. Certainly a confrontation but on another level that didn't involve the normal predatorial instincts - motor functions.
When males fight and they got too close they side step, always maintaining full eye contact while having enough room for the little jump-bite. In other words, is there a different set of hardwired instructions, rarely used and possibly not even present in some other species?

doesn’t look like I still have the video, but Wayne mentioned that the females of this group will do this arm-measuring thing and shake their butts at each other as a territorial behaviour.

 

[kamakiri]

If you want to keep your specimen you will need an actual lid. Cling wrap will do nothing and the spider will escape

So far, the tiny jumper is still in the container. He's hunkered down in the same crevice the previous jumper made a nest in . . . now what, I wonder?