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Sticker of Thin-spined jumping spider
Bug card No. 4348 of 4,939

Thin-spined jumping spider

Tutelina elegans
Name means: “elegant, because of its shiny metallic look”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The thin-spined jumping spider is a tiny, shiny jumping spider. The female is bronze green and can look copper red in some light. The male is brighter, with greenish yellow scales and a shiny purple spot at the end of its tummy.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Canada and the United States
Length
4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in)
Top speed
about 0.8 km/h (0.5 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
Like other jumping spiders, it hunts small insects by sneaking up and pouncing on them.
For real!Photo of Thin-spined jumping spider
Picture by spidereyes2020. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Thin-spined jumping spider about 6 mm long (0.24 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 4.5 secondsmoves 37 times its own body length every second

How big is Thin-spined jumping spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its name elegans means elegant, because it looks so shiny and metallic.

2

The male has two tufts of yellow and black hairs on the front of its head.

3

The male's front legs are much longer and bigger than the rest, but in the female the back legs are longest.

4

It is only about half a centimetre long.

you asked

Most asked questions about Thin-spined jumping spider

?How big is the thin-spined jumping spider?

It is only about 4 to 6 mm long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Tutelina elegans
Group
Spiders
Family
Salticidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Salticidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Tutelina elegans (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by spidereyes2020. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Spiders

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