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Sticker of Bronze jumping spider
Bug card No. 0650 of 4,939

Bronze jumping spider

Eris militaris
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The bronze jumping spider is a small jumping spider in bronze, tan and brown colours. The female has white spots on her back, and the male has white bands along his sides. It is easy to spot in autumn, walking around houses.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
The United States and Canada, in gardens, bushes and around buildings
Length
5 to 8 mm (0.2 to 0.31 in)
Top speed
about 0.92 km/h (0.57 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It eats small insects like flies, moths, crickets and leafhoppers, almost anything it can hold in its jaws.
For real!Photo of Bronze jumping spider
Picture by Meghan Cassidy. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Bronze jumping spider about 8 mm long (0.31 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 3.9 secondsmoves 32 times its own body length every second

How big is Bronze jumping spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

After a meal it grooms itself, cleaning its jaws like a cat licking its paws.

2

To win a female, the male lifts his front legs and does a little side step dance.

3

In autumn and winter several of them may hide together under dead wood.

4

It likes to shelter in blackberry bushes, where the leaves overlap like a little roof.

you asked

Most asked questions about Bronze jumping spider

?What does the bronze jumping spider eat?

Small insects such as flies, moths and crickets.

?How big is the bronze jumping spider?

About 5 to 8 millimetres long. Females are a little bigger than males.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Eris militaris
Group
Spiders
Family
Salticidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Salticidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Bronze jumper, Bronze lake jumper

Where the facts come from

  1. Eris militaris (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 Meghan Cassidy. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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