A Jumping Spider is not your typical spider. For one thing they are not in need of web-building to catch their prey. In fact, the majority of spiders that do rely on web-spinning to catch prey only rely on the web because web-spinning spiders lack the necessary visual acuity to spontaneously pounce onto their prey from across the room. Most spiders are only able to eat their prey as long as their prey is stationary, or caught in a web. However, the jumping spider does pounce on their prey from across a room and they rely on this method of hunting because jumping spiders possess eyesight that is far superior to other spiders.
The Jumping Spider’s eyesight is so developed that their eyesight is just as good as a human’s eyesight. The Jumping Spider has eight eyes. Their pair of “primary eyes” detects details and objects while their “secondary eyes” process movement.
Researchers watched as a spider jumped from across a room to attack a dead fly that the researchers had tied to a string. However, the researchers are having a difficult time studying the visual processing system in the Jumping Spider’s brain because whenever any sort of puncture is made anywhere on the body of a Jumping Spider the Jumping Spider will literally explode, or self detonate, possibly as a defense mechanism. Despite this slight speed bump to scientific advancement the researchers are confident that they can devise a way to hook electrodes to a Jumping Spider’s visual system without becoming covered with their guts.
Is it possible that the jumping spider, due to its unique eyesight, comes from an evolutionary lineage that is different from your typical arachnids?
