Jumping Spider - Reproduction

Reproduction

Jumping spiders use their vision in complex visual courtship displays. Males are often quite different in appearance from females, and may have plumose hairs, colored or iridescent hairs, front leg fringes, structures on other legs, and other, often bizarre, modifications. These are used in visual courtship in which the colored or iridescent parts of the body are displayed and complex sideling, vibrational, or zigzag movements are performed in a courtship "dance". If the female is receptive to the male she will assume a passive, crouching position. In some species, the female may also vibrate her palps or abdomen. The male will then extend his front legs towards the female to touch her. If the female remains receptive, the male will climb on the female's back and inseminate her with his palps.

A 2008 study of the species Phintella vittatain in Current Biology suggests that female spiders react to the male reflecting ultraviolet B light before mating, a finding that challenges the previously held assumption that animals did not register ultraviolet B light. In recent years it has been discovered that many jumping spiders may have auditory signals as well, with amplified sounds produced by the males sounding like buzzes or drum rolls.

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