Salticidae - Jumping Sporkers

[The Snark]

Since jumpers are my favorite spider, and, of course, the classiest coolest spiders of them all, I was hoping to get a thread about them started here. (Hey! How many arachs deck themselves out as ants, or use day glow opalescent paint jobs, hmm? All tarantulas lovers are grabbing their torches and pitchforks about now, yes?)

Some little known info of the jumpers.
When we first removed to the very rural region of northern Thailand I discovered, by accident, our house was infested with the Brown Recluse (Loxosceles). We found an immature one in our bed and both my wife and I got bit.
But the happy ending of the tale. The jumping spider is the deadliest enemy of the Loxo or any other basically web based spider that goes transient.
I went out into the fields, spread a sheet out on the ground and spent a happy day bottling jumpers which I took home and released into and around our home. After a period of about a month, all the little pocket webs of the Loxosceles were abandoned. The Loxo is helpless when confronted by a jumper.
I was lucky enough to observe one confrontation. A Loxo was hiding in it's web. A few inches away a jumper sat, idling, apparently waiting. After a few minutes the Loxo stuck it's head out, then half it's abdomen. The jumper, although small, demonstrated the adeptness of it's species. It was suddenly on top of the Loxo with one of their bullseye perfect jumps. The Loxo attempted to retreat but the jumper is a very strong spider and held on tenaciously. And that was all she wrote. The next day, there was a rather porked jumper and the shriveled waste of the Loxo.

 

[Venom]

Thanks for the cool story. Jumpers are really efficient hunters. Are you sure that it was L. reclusa though? To my knowledge there are no native Loxosceles in SE Asia. Could you take a picture of one of these?

 

[Galapoheros]

That IS cool. Hey, which jumper is the largest on the planet?

 

[The Snark]

Thanks for the cool story. Jumpers are really efficient hunters. Are you sure that it was L. reclusa though? To my knowledge there are no native Loxosceles in SE Asia. Could you take a picture of one of these?

Unfortunately, no camera.
I took one specimen to a local university and had a bumblefudge of pseudoscientists attempt to determine what it was. Then I had a professor offhandedly tell me it was a Loxosceles and they were common here. I then had a medical doctor tell me there were no Loxosceles in Thailand. I then had an entomologist tell me with Thailand being the one of the major tourism spots, transients like the Loxosceles were inevitable.
I chose to make my own determination. The bites my wife and I suffered matched the typical necrotic cycle. Severe debridement efforts cleared the infected tissue and healing came about in roughly 6 to 8 weeks. That was typical of a Loxo bite.
I then went and captured 2 excellent specimens. All of the specimens I have encountered here are significantly smaller than the ones I had seen when we had the outbreak in Southern California.
However, the eyes of the Loxo are very distinct. The 3 pairs, and the placement. These matched exactly. The general shape and coloration was very typical of the Loxo. As well, I could not find any spines on the legs.
Combining all that with the very typical pocket webs which were always well concealed under or in something, I made the unscientific determination we have the Recluse, or, a spider very much like the Loxo rec. in all manners, habits, and bite effects.

 

[Venom]

Oh ok. I thought it was a case of misidentification ( which is pretty common with L.reclusa, and the ID seemed questionable considering your location ), but apparantely you know what you're talking about and have done your homework, so I'll take your word for it. Do you know if they have become established in the area outside your home or have spread elsewhere in the country, or are they only in the house? It seems, like you have said, that there is some conflict if information over there, but it would be interesting to know if there is now another country harboring an introduced and established Loxosceles sp. Thank you for posting this information!

 

[WYSIWYG]

You may be correct on the genus, but it could possibly be a different species within the genus.

My sister-in-law here in Arizona had her dog bitten by something, resulting in the type of injury you had and we do NOT have the recluse here. We do have something closely related though, so that probably means there are other species within that genus that can result in the same type of injury.

Loved your original post though. GREAT story! I love reading about other people's interesting experiences.

I'm a tarantula gal, but jumpers are cool too.

One day, I had been having a rough day and I was really tired. My spirits lifted when I got into my car and found a string of web on my steering wheel, only to find a little jumper hanging out. Needless to say, I carefully removed him and took him to a much safer area.

I wish they were bigger though! They're sooooo cute!! Little mini-aliens.

Wysi

 

[Dark Raptor]

That IS cool. Hey, which jumper is the largest on the planet?

Hyllus and Sandalodes species can reach 2 - 3 cm bodylenght.

 

[The Snark]

Oh ok. I thought it was a case of misidentification ( which is pretty common with L.reclusa, and the ID seemed questionable considering your location ), but apparantely you know what you're talking about and have done your homework, so I'll take your word for it. Do you know if they have become established in the area outside your home or have spread elsewhere in the country, or are they only in the house? It seems, like you have said, that there is some conflict if information over there, but it would be interesting to know if there is now another country harboring an introduced and established Loxosceles sp. Thank you for posting this information!

The specimens I have seen have been in four locations aside from my residence. Unfortunately, all four are frequented by transients, tourists. A study needs to be done. I don't have that much faith in the local arachnidologists however.

 

[The Snark]

You may be correct on the genus, but it could possibly be a different species within the genus.

My sister-in-law here in Arizona had her dog bitten by something, resulting in the type of injury you had and we do NOT have the recluse here. We do have something closely related though, so that probably means there are other species within that genus that can result in the same type of injury.

I wish they were bigger though! They're sooooo cute!! Little mini-aliens.
Wysi

To the best of my knowledge there are hundreds of critters that carrying the neurotoxin that causes localized necrosis. The explanation given to me is that the venom interrupts or misdirects the growth/restoration cycle at a subcellular level.
This has been born out by an ancient latrodectus bite I have which, over the years, has had new tissue and skin regrow but in a random manner to where it resembles a wart. A neuropathologist made a study of the cells and found nothing abnormal which is very typical of damage at the neuron level.

The problem, cause of the degenerated regenerative cycle, is the neurons that have been effected, carrying what in essence is mutant genetic code, also assist the cells they service/support to grow. They send errant signals, the skin and tissue cells grow accordingly.
Dr. Bunke, one of the forefathers of reimplantation surgery, explained to me that until they were able to reattach trunk nerves, reimplantation of a severed body part usually failed. While the nerves don't directly serve the regrowing cells, they cause an autostimulation with promotes the growth.


I have had a jumper living on or in my computer monitor for several weeks. Almost every day s/he comes out and spend an hour or so trying to catch my mouse pointer.