Saitis barbipes

Saitis barbipes

''Saitis barbipes'' is a common jumping spider in the Mediterranean region, where it can be found on houses and rocks, as well as indoors.

The Australian "peacock spider", ''Maratus volans'', has a range of superficial similarities to the species, such as green eyes, and an enlarged third pair of legs used for courtship. Recent work suggests that ''Saitis barbipes'' and ''Maratus volans'' are closely related.
Jumping spider female - Saitis barbipes Captured in my home, tiny 5-6 mm spider. Animal,Animalia,Arachnida,Araneae,Arthropoda,Bulgaria,Europe,Geotagged,Jumping spider,Nature,Saitis barbipes,Salticidae,Sofia,Spiders,Spring,Wildlife

Appearance

Females reach about 5 to 6 mm body length. While the female is of a dull brown color, the smaller male is strikingly colored when frontally viewed. With green eyes, black stripes on the four white frontal legs, and red color above the eyes, it is probably the most colorful species of jumping spiders in Europe. The most impressive feature however is the greatly enlarged third pair of legs. These are colored red near the body, fading into black, with white tufts at the end. These legs are used in courtship display. When the male spots a female, he raises these. As he approaches her, from time to time he audibly vibrates the legs. A receptive female will then collapse on her legs and turn her abdomen upward.
Jumpin spider female - Saitis barbipes Captured in my home, tiny 5-6 mm spider. Animal,Animalia,Arachnida,Araneae,Arthropoda,Bulgaria,Europe,Geotagged,Jumping spider,Nature,Saitis barbipes,Salticidae,Sofia,Spiders,Spring,Wildlife

Naming

The species name is derived from Latin, and means "bearded foot".

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassArachnida
OrderAraneae
FamilySalticidae
GenusSaitis
SpeciesS. barbipes
Photographed in
Bulgaria