Heliophanus demonstrativus

Heliophanus demonstrativus

A member of the group of jumping spiders, Heliophanus demonstrativus is small, 4-6mm for both males and females and are resident in parts of South Africa.
The family Salticidae is the largest spider family with a worldwide distribution. In South Africa 67 genera and 265 species are presently known.
Jumping spiders do not construct a web but build nests where they retreat to mate, lay eggs and moult.
Little jumper This little one has become my friend, he lives on a plant in my garden and is totally not bothered about me sticking a camera in his face, in fact, I am sure he is posing! Geotagged,Heliophanus demonstrativus,South Africa,jumping spiders,salticidae,south africa,spiders

Appearance

Both sexes 4-6mm. Eight eyes are in three rows of four occupying the whole width of the carapace. The carapace is dark brown, eye field black, punctate reticule; long brown bristles on the eye field anterioraly. Abdomen is dark brown with a yellowish pattern, delicate brown hair covers abdomen. Legs with long brown hairs, spines are dark brown. Female slightly lighter in colour.
Jumping spider (Salticidae) with prey Not a good day to be a planthopper! I will try to get an exact species, not easy though Geotagged,Heliophanus demonstrativus,South Africa,Spring,jumpingspiders,salticidae,south africa,spiders

Naming

Wesolowska 1986

Distribution

Limited to small areas in southern and eastern South Africa

Behavior

Saticids are usually diurnal, cursorial hunting spiders with well developed vision. With their large eyes and complex retinas they have unique resolution abilities unparalleled with animals of a similar size. Prey is detected and persued by a combination of stalking, chasing, leaping or lunging.

Habitat

They are closely associated with the ground layer in grassland and woodlands.

Food

Insects

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://eol.org/pages/1212049/overview

Field Guide to the Spiders of South Africa by Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman published by LAPA publishers 2014
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassArachnida
OrderAraneae
FamilySalticidae
GenusHeliophanus
SpeciesHeliophanus demonstrativus
Photographed in
South Africa