Jumping spiders, otherwise known as jumpers, are interesting as well as a benefit to man.  A jumpers' bite is virtually harmless.  Some swelling may occur and it may itch like a mosquito bite, but any soreness will go away.  Their most cost common prey is flies and clothes moths. 

Jumpers have eight eyes.  Two of the eight are prominent, placed on the face like headlights on a car.  The other six, three on each side of the head, are so placed giving jumpers a field of vision of almost 360*.  They can see approximately one foot away, which is excellent eyesight for a spider.

Their bodies are compact and their legs are short.  Their movements are jerky and they can move as quickly sideways and backwards as they can forwards.20

Their name is derived by a common movement of theirs.  Jumpers can actually jump several to forty times their own body length.  This is done by a sudden surge of blood that is pumped into their hind legs.  This extends the spider forward, backward, or sideways with force.

Jumping spiders have a special technique for hunting.  When it sees a moving object, it runs toward it, slowing down the closer it gets.  When the moving object is classified as a meal, the jumper crouches to the surface it is on and pulls its legs in.  It then attaches a thread of silk, serving as a safety line, to that surface.  This safety line is especially effective when pursuing large prey or when the surface is an unstable perch.  As the jumper leaps at its prey, its front legs extend forward.  If the strike is successful, its prey is immediately immobilized with an injection of venom and devoured on the spot.  If the prey is large, the jumper will inject the venom and then swing clear until the prey has stopped moving.

Jumpers have been known to attack orb weaving spiders that are in their own webs.  Most jumpers are daylight hunters and eat their prey in a dark area or corner.21

Most jumpers do not have a common name.  There is a  jumper known as Phidippus audax, which means "Hercules grandson with the Latin word for bold or audacious"22.  This spider has been recorded to eat forty fruit flies at one sitting!  A female of this specie killed to males that were put into her cage.23

When the time comes for mating, the female jumper usually does the choosing.  Jumpers recognize their own specie through sight alone.  The male, when he is ready for mating, will spread his semen on the web.  He then collects it with his pedipalps and carries it around for days, or even weeks, until meeting a female.  When he spots one, he cautiously advances toward her.  The male color pattern is different from the female and each specie has a different mating ritual or courtship display.

As in the specie, Phidippus audax, the male shows off his colors.  He displays lustrous green jaws and alternate black and white bands on this front legs.  He moves closer to her, showing off his pedipalps.  Eventually he touches her with his forelegs.  If she accepts him, they mate.

In all species of jumpers, the female fertilizes eggs several days later in the privacy of her own web.  After about a week, her spiderlings hatch and spread out through the ballooning process.