Jumping Spider Focus
This jumping spider appears to be staring at you with four giant eyes, but it actually has eight eyes around the top of its cephalothorax (head and upper body). While the largest pair of eyes provides very acute color vision, the three smaller pairs of eyes offer a less detailed, monochromatic, panoramic view.
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DownloadJumping Spider Focus
This jumping spider appears to be staring at you with four giant eyes, but it actually has eight eyes around the top of its cephalothorax (head and upper body). While the largest pair of eyes provides very acute color vision, the three smaller pairs of eyes offer a less detailed, monochromatic, panoramic view.
What am I looking at?
Notice the front-facing pair of large, round eyes (1) and one smaller eye on each side of the big pair (2). There are two more pairs of tiny eyes on sides of the spider’s cephalothorax that aren’t visible in this image. Click on the right arrow to see some additional views of this jumping spider.
Biology in the background
True to their name, jumping spiders hunt like cats and catch their victims by pouncing on them. Jumping spiders’ vision is better than that of most other spiders or insects; they use it in courtship, hunting, and navigation.
But spider eyes cannot swivel like human eyes. When a spider wants to shift its gaze, it simply moves its body so its big eyes face what they want to see. Their two large front eyes can see fine details and color but have a small field of vision; think of the front pair as telephoto lenses, zooming in and out. The other, smaller eyes can’t see detail but have a wider field of vision and can sense motion. Together, the eight eyes give jumping spiders a 360-degree view of the world, making them effective hunters.
This female jumping spider is about 25 millimeters long, or slightly larger than a human thumbnail.
Technique
These images were captured using macrophotography.
Igor Siwanowicz, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus