All About Mopsus mormon - Green Jumping Spider - Australia
Taken just before. (6/6/07). This information is well worth reading, especially THE EYES
THE GREEN JUMPING SPIDER
Also known as the Clown Spider and Northern Green Jumping Spider. It
is a mormon!! lol. Its species Name is “Mopsus mormon”.
Phylum: ARTHROPODA
Class: ARACHNIDA
Order: Araneida
Family: Salticidae
Body length: female: 16 mm male: 12 mm
Habitat: Usually found on green leaves in the wetter regions of
coastal NSW and Queensland
Toxicity: Uncertain; the venom tends to cause painful bites in
humans; ulceration at bite sites is possible but probably rare
This is the largest jumping spider in Australia. The most important characteristics of the female of this species are its variable but generally leaf green colour, the distinctive white patch around the eyes, and the two black lines along the dorsal abdomen. The male has a prominent fringe of white hairs on each side of the eye pattern. The front pair of big eyes cover half of its dark face, below are the very large fangs, and the legs are green to dark red in colour. The one I have in this photo is a female. Here is a photo of the male and around its head there is the hairy white clown:- www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=291855469&context=se...
When the jumping spiders move or jump, they always leave a safety line of silk behind. If the jump fails the spiders can crawl back to its original position and this prevents them from falling down.
Here is how someone described the nest:- “The Green Jumping Spiders like to hunt and build nest among long sword shape leaves. We found this nest in early summer, and noticed a interesting feature. A male and a female lived together in this nest. There were three compartments, male and female lived in different compartments. The middle compartment was the egg sac. The male was in the top and the female in the bottom compartment. Each compartment was like a tunnel, with opening at both ends. We also found another Green Jumping Spider nest near by. This nest, as most other jumping spider nests we found, was only the female with her egg sac, not male was found.”
THE AMAZING EYES!! TRULY AMAZING EYES OF THE MOPSUS MORMON!
Daylight hunters with multi-purpose vision.
Jumping spiders are most active during the day. They have excellent
vision which they use to hunt prey and recognise mates and enemies.
Jumping spiders can leap more than 20 times their own body length,
propelled by their back legs. However, when pouncing on their prey,
they make shorter, more accurate leaps.
When hunting, the eyes of jumping spiders see in three different ways, using THREE different sets of eyes:
* The spider first senses movement of distant prey with the side
eyes (PLE), which provide a blurry wide-angle image.
* Once movement is detected, the spider turns in that direction
and locks onto the moving prey with the large, middle front eyes
(AME). These eyes provide a clear, focussed telephoto image, probably
in colour. The spider can track moving prey both by body movements and
by using muscles to internally swivel the elongated eye capsules so
that the light sensitive retina of each eye remains locked on the
prey.
* While the spider stalks closer, it uses the side front eyes
(ALE) judge the distance to the prey. When it judges the prey to be
close enough (about 2 - 3 cm), the spider leaps.
What an astonishing creature!!
Comments and faves
sat0r1, Crimson87Clover, Marco Libra, one fish two fish, red fish blue fish, and 111 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Greg Miles (61 months ago | reply)
Jumping spiders are my favourite and you have taken some great shots of them Ron. They don't stay still for long and they certainly have amazing vision. They are pretty good at judging distance. They don't need their safety line very often. My mother used to call them "money spiders" but I don't know why.
daisyok (Jeannie) (61 months ago | reply)
really interesting, Ron. I have never heard or , nor have I ever seen one of these before...thanks.
charo62 / My World! [deleted] (61 months ago | reply)
This spider looks like he's enjoying his picture taken. Wonderful closeup and colors.
You are invited to add this image to An Awesome Shot!
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amysbirds (61 months ago | reply)
Wow, very cool....
gefriernonne (61 months ago | reply)
ready to jump?
Great Macro!!
sat0r1 (61 months ago | reply)
Oh my gosh! Cutest Spider I have ever seen!
Love the googly eyes! and the colours! NIce macro!
Macro 1-2-3
Paradoxiko*Beck* (61 months ago | reply)
oh my god!! she's sooo beautiful! the colors are so vibrant!
Crimson87Clover (61 months ago | reply)
What a looker!
t_buchtele (61 months ago | reply)
Yes it is all very interesting, but how did you teach it to sit? : )
1-2-3 Insects and spiders
Dj Blasser (61 months ago | reply)
Wow nice little fellow !
emblatame (Ron) (61 months ago | reply)
For t_buchtele . Yes, she does look like she is sitting but what it is actually doing is getting ready to jump. I frequently had them jumping on the camera all the time. They can't seem to help it. They jump often.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and I hope you have enjoyed this spider and their lives.
joaquinportela (61 months ago | reply)
Wonderful colors in this salticidae
********************************************* ***************************
Invit to join MacroFoted Group
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kamikadse (60 months ago | reply)
thanks for all the information - and thanks for sharing that great photo
ToucheA2 (60 months ago | reply)
He's a cutie!
--
Seen in 1-2-3 Insects and spiders (one a day) (?)
SnapHappy77 (59 months ago | reply)
Awwwww, how adorable!!!! :D He's posing perfectly for you! :)
moore fun (56 months ago | reply)
Great close up! Thanks for the bio. Please join us at Spider-ville (new). We'd love to have your photo added to the group.
noneck (56 months ago | reply)
i loved the photo!
luckofseven.com/day_96_i_screwed
\\ s k y e [deleted] (56 months ago | reply)
This is adorable, he looks as if he's posing for you :)
farissshafee II (54 months ago | reply)
uh..Ron, you've got the rare find capture here..more to the stare
This amazing shot is
invited to
Empyrean Animals (invite only) - post 1 award 2 in the pool
Will you share this image with Ish@KolorKraft?
www.flickr.com/groups/ish-kolorkraft/ (?)
farissshafee II (54 months ago | reply)
uh..Ron, you've got the rare find capture here..more to the stare
This amazing shot is
invited to
Empyrean Animals (invite only) - post 1 award 2 in the pool
Do add this image at Ish@Flickr!
www.flickr.com/groups/ish-flickr/ (?)
JJ Brown (54 months ago | reply)
wow!
People's Choice
H G M (54 months ago | reply)
Beautiful !
Check my "Little Monster" if you like to... it has some similarity with yours.
This Photograph deserve another "Fl♥ckr Extraordinary Capture Award". as seen in our Pool, good job keep up the good work.
Fl♥ckr Extraordinary Capture Flaming HOT Award !
Please Tag your photo with ExCapture
Special Angels Photography( Tumbleweed) (54 months ago | reply)
I saw this Great Photo in: Photos to Smile About
--
Seen in Photos to Smile About /POST ONE-/ COMMENT ON TWO. NEW RULES (?)
turtlepatrol (54 months ago | reply)
I've never seen this spider before....................I don't like the idea that it jumps.............eeeeeeeeeeekkkk.
I saw this Great Photo in: Photos to Smile About
///vincent/// (54 months ago | reply)
Excellent macro!
This Photograph deserve another "Fl♥ckr Extraordinary Capture Award". as seen in our Pool, good job keep up the good work.
Fl♥ckr Extraordinary Capture Flaming HOT Award !
Please Tag your photo with ExCapture
Nikolas ı nikolase.fr (54 months ago | reply)
very great capture
(Viewed in Photo-Of-The-Day)
locustelle02 (54 months ago | reply)
very nice close-up , a lot of details - fine !
bigkyle28 (54 months ago | reply)
Great shot.The information was interesting and enjoyable too.
CONGRATULATIONS! Excellent!
*Only Nature Award*[not people](1 Post: 7 Award)
3 photos each day! Have a nice day!</b
tangua [deleted] (54 months ago | reply)
This amazing shot is
awarded as Outstanding
Empyrean Animals (invite only) - post 1 award 2 in the pool
judder1952 (54 months ago | reply)
Vivid
flix2sho (54 months ago | reply)
Great pic, and info
As seen in Ish@Flickr!
(Ish@Flickr)
Beckbecky (53 months ago | reply)
you made a spider look cute. now i believe anything is possible.
mivigur (53 months ago | reply)
che faccetta simpatica :-)
lhoveh (52 months ago | reply)
amazing picture!
pierre pouliquin (50 months ago | reply)
What a cutty!
staffaphoto (50 months ago | reply)
wow!!!
Thevillagefool © (49 months ago | reply)
amazing . please join my new group:
www.flickr.com/groups/unusualspecies/
Galactic Dreams (48 months ago | reply)
woah this rocks, thanks for the info! I loved reading it!! I loved how i didn't have to run off site to research it, everything i had a question about was in the description! thank you! Wonderful capture here my friend!
smj587 (48 months ago | reply)
She's beautiful. Great capture!
Hi Friend,
This is a small group called "Naturally Magnificent".
A group for Nature lovers and for people who love clicking snaps of nature. Please feel free to join this group and share the wonderful scenes of our mother nature and her beauty.
ben.jones2106 (48 months ago | reply)
Cool eyes
DrPhotoMoto (48 months ago | reply)
Beautiful shot and thanks for sharing the information. I wonder if all insects with three eyes use them in this way. MOTO
Naturally Magnificent Award
This is a Naturally Magnificent Photograph. Nature Is Beautiful and you have captured the Beauty of it at it's best. If you haven't yet done so, please tag your photo "Naturally Magnificent".
actionman248 (47 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Salticidae, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
pocolover1957 (47 months ago | reply)
A beautiful creature - and very nice info - great job!
Olly Muxworthy (47 months ago | reply)
Fantastic shot, love the facial expression! Excellent job.
Angel E. Photography (47 months ago | reply)
So Cute and very colorful.
I think i want one of these.
bonnielukk (46 months ago | reply)
nice photo...
earthtiger2 (46 months ago | reply)
nice one!
lindazFlickr (46 months ago | reply)
So Cute!!!!! A very nice photo!!
TOB Terror (45 months ago | reply)
amazing shot!
LeapFrog! (45 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called *Photos and Calendar* (Post 1: comment 3), and we'd love to have this added to the group!
This great photo was seen in Defender's Nature Macro and Close Up Group
Collect 4 DEFENDERS awards and add your photo to our 4 + section.
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