Fun Johnson Jumping Spider Facts For Kids
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Phidippus johnsoni or red-backed jumping spider is one of the largest species of phylum Arthropoda order Araneae, the most commonly encountered jumping spiders of western North America.
They belong to the genus Phidippus and should not to be confused with the highly venomous redback spiders. This species of jumping spiders are well known for its highly coordinated jumping ability with which they capture prey and go from plant to plant.
Many are marked with contrasting colors or bands, especially the male who displays this ornamentation while dancing before females to woo them for mating.
Species of jumping spiders are harmless to humans, although the larger species if roughly handled can give a locally painful bite. The family Salticidae of spiders has two subspecies, the gray wall jumper, Menemerus bivittatus (Dufour), and the pantropical jumper, Plexippus paykulli.
Phidippus johnsoni uses venom to paralyze their prey. Females are slightly bigger than the males.
Females are known to weave funnel-shaped webs between objects or rocks for laying eggs of more than 125 per season. Both sexes of this spider have a bright red abdomen, but an additional black central stripe can be found among females.
For more relatable content, check out these flower crab spider facts and orb-weaver spider facts for kids.
Johnson Jumping Spider Interesting Facts
What type of animal is a Johnson jumping spider?
The red-backed jumping spider or Phidippus johnsoni spiders are a type of spider of the family Salticidae and order Araneae. This species of spiders are usually known for their jumping ability and pouncing on their prey. They belong to Animalia kingdom.
What class of animal does a Johnson jumping spider belong to?
The species of Phidippus johnsoni spiders belongs to class Arachnida and phylum Arthropoda.
How many Johnson jumping spiders are there in the world?
As of 2019, the species of jumping spiders contained over 600 described genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders at 13% of all species of spiders.
Where does a Johnson jumping spider live?
Jumping spiders (Phidippus johnsoni) generally live in tropical forests and harbor the most species, but they are also found in temperate forests, deserts, intertidal zones, scrubland, and mountainous regions. The genus range mainly in North America.
What is a Johnson jumping spider's habitat?
Red-backed jumping spider species natural habits include the construction of conspicuous tubular silken nests under woods and rocks on the ground and sometimes grapevines. Most of the time these spiders feed on prey about half their own size.
In India, they are found everywhere, from the deserts of Rajasthan to the mountain ranges of the Himalayas. Their distribution range can be found across North America, Canada, Australia, and many more.
Who do Johnson jumping spiders live with?
Jumping spider (Phidippus johnsoni) usually lives alone. Those kept as pets must not be kept together as they may eat each other. Only for breeding, they should be kept in the same tank otherwise they should remain in isolation.
How long does a Johnson jumping spider live?
The lifespan of jumping spiders is nearly one to three years.
How do they reproduce?
Jumping spiders reproduce sexually where the male spider directly ejaculate in ready-made small sperm webs. The male jumping spider performs a courtship, where he will arch his body, and slink on tiptoe toward the female.
Upon successful mating, the male injects his sperm from his palps to the genital opening of the female, known as the epigyne, on the underside of her abdomen.
To impress a female spider the male does a small dance and the spiders also tap their feet and abdomen on the ground in fast intervals that can’t be seen by the human eye.
Female spiders generally store sperm from different males inside their bodies and they make decisions to choose which male gets to fertilize her eggs. The process of mating is done only once from the female side and if any male tries to mate with females who are once mated creates a chance to be killed.
Eggs are laid within one to two weeks, in a thick fluffy sac, usually on the top of their enclosure. Eggs hatch within one to four weeks.
These genus spiders not only sit near the tops of plants, but they also put their nests and egg sacs there too.
Most females bear only one clutch of eggs, but some lay more.
After staying with the egg cocoon, the female usually dies a few days later, once the spiderlings leave the nest. The egg membrane is shed in 24–26 days, but the hatchlings continue to mature in the cocoon.
What is their conservation status?
Jumping spider (Phidippus johnsoni) has a conservation status of Least Concern as their population is stable.
Johnson Jumping Spider Fun Facts
What do the Johnson jumping spiders look like?
Due to similarities, a jumping spider (Phidippus johnsoni) is commonly mistaken for black widow spiders, with their compact black bodies and relatively short legs. Jumping spiders generally have a body coloration of tan, gray, and brown, with pale white, yellow, red, blue, gray, or green markings.
Adult spider is of length around 0.2-0.7 in (4-18 mm) and their front legs are usually thicker and somewhat longer than their other legs.
Both sexes have bright red abdomen. The female has an additional black central stripe, with several white spots on the abdomen and bright metallic green chelicerae.
Several species of these spiders are similar in size, length is almost the same along with coloration, and possess a very painful sting.
On the top of their heads, jumping spiders have two medium size eyes and two small size eyes. They propel themselves by suddenly changing the blood flow in their body, and can be identified by a white stripe in the middle of their abdomen.
How cute are they?
This genus of spiders is cute and interesting, even though they may be feared by some. The jumping spider (Phidippus johnsoni) is pretty shy and will usually run or jump away when humans approach.
To impress a female spider the male does a small dance and the spiders also tap their feet and abdomen on the ground so quickly that it can’t be seen by the human eye.
How do they communicate?
This genus of spiders devote the most effort to communication when they’re courting. Adults show off bright colors and put on complex vibratory displays by creating sound waves on the substrate. They communicate with own kind and identify prey by plucking at their webs. They are well-known for their ability to build an intricate web to trap small prey.
How big is a Johnson jumping spider?
Phidippus johnsoni, as adults, have a body length of around 0.2-0.7 in (4-18 mm), which is similar to leaf-footed bug.
How fast can a Johnson jumping spider run?
They can jump and run, but their speed is unknown.
How much does a Johnson jumping spider weigh?
The definite weight of these spiders are unknown as they are very small. However, it is known that the female is slightly bigger than the male.
What are the male and female names of the species?
The species name of this family is male Plexippus paykulli and female Plexippus paykulli.
What would you call a baby Johnson jumping spider?
Being a member of a spider family, the youngs are known as spiderlings.
What do they eat?
Phidippus johnsoni eat insects or other spiders smaller than their size. They do not spin webs for catching prey but may use a silken thread as an anchor as they climb down a vertical surface. The bites range from asymptomatic to small, mosquito-bite-sized welts. The bites can cause swelling. They feed on crickets, flies, roaches, mealworms, wax worms, moths.
Are they poisonous?
Phidippus johnsoni possess fangs and produce venom, but the venom is not life-threatening. While they can bite, the jumping spider bite is not poisonous. They are not considered dangerous.
Would they make a good pet?
Yes, this spider genus can make a good pet, but it is not common to pet spiders since many people fear them.
Did you know...
Unlike many spiders, the jumping spider doesn’t trap prey using a web. This doesn't mean they cannot make silk.
They use their vision to determine their prey, so it might seem as if the jumping spider is staring at you. They are quite smart and plan their ways to attack prey.
Chilean fire tarantula is the most friendliest and peaceful spider in the world.
How far can a jumping spider jump?
They can jump 20 times their body length very quickly when threatened.
Can jumping spiders harm you?
They don't harm humans until they are in mortal danger.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these peppered moth interesting facts and gulf fritillary butterfly fun facts pages.
You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Johnson jumping spider coloring pages.
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Bachelor of Science specializing in Human Anatomy
Joan AgieBachelor of Science specializing in Human Anatomy
With 3+ years of research and content writing experience across several niches, especially on education, technology, and business topics. Joan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Anatomy from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria, and has worked as a researcher and writer for organizations across Nigeria, the US, the UK, and Germany. Joan enjoys meditation, watching movies, and learning new languages in her free time.
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