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Sticker of Turf running spider
Bug card No. 4459 of 4,939

Turf running spider

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

The turf running spider is a small, quick spider that lives on leaves. It is brown or yellow, often with little spots. It does not build a web to catch food. Instead it waits very still and then pounces.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia, on leaves in orchards, gardens and fields
Length
3.5 to 5.3 mm (0.14 to 0.21 in)
Top speed
about 0.87 km/h (0.54 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It hunts aphids and other small insects, and sometimes even other spiders.
For real!Photo of Turf running spider
Picture by Accipiter (R. Altenkamp, Berlin). CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Turf running spider about 5.3 mm long (0.21 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 4.1 secondsmoves 46 times its own body length every second

How big is Turf running spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is the most common spider in European fruit orchards.

2

Farmers like it, because it eats pests that would harm their fruit trees.

3

To say hello to a female, the male taps her body with his front legs.

4

A mother spider lays around 250 eggs and wraps them in five to seven little egg cocoons.

5

Males are busiest in the daytime, while females are busiest at dawn and dusk.

you asked

Most asked questions about Turf running spider

?What does the turf running spider eat?

Aphids, other small insects and sometimes other spiders.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Philodromus cespitum
Group
Spiders
Family
Philodromidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Philodromidae
Lives on
North America, Europe, Africa, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Philodromus cespitum (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 Accipiter (R. Altenkamp, Berlin). CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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