Banded phintella
The banded phintella is a tiny jumping spider that shines metallic gold, blue and brown. It has a superpower: it was the first animal found that can see a kind of ultraviolet light called UVB. No other animal was known to do that.
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Fun facts
Males have patches on their bodies that reflect ultraviolet light, which females can see. It probably helps them pick a partner.
Its eyes are pearly white with black rings around them.
The male has white bands across its back, which give it its name.
Insects, birds and fish can see some ultraviolet light, but not the UVB kind that this spider sees.
Most asked questions about Banded phintella
?Can spiders see ultraviolet light?
Some can. The banded phintella was the first animal known to see UVB light.
?How big is the banded phintella?
Tiny. It is only about 3 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Phintella vittata
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Salticidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Salticidae
- Lives on
- Asia
Where the facts come from
- Phintella vittata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Vengolis. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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