Marpissa formosa

Ge­o­graphic Range

Marpissa for­mosa has been sighted in Min­nesota, with pos­si­ble sight­ings in Michi­gan, On­tario and Que­bec. Genus Marpissa has been found in Texas, Geor­gia, and North Car­olina. It is sus­pected to be pre­sent in Wis­con­sin as well. The ma­jor­ity of the genus is con­sid­ered to be Great Lake en­demics. ("Na­ture­Serve Ex­plorer", 2013; Cof­fin and Pfan­n­muller, 1988; Shelford, 1963)

Habi­tat

The ma­jor­ity of in­di­vid­u­als that have been sighted of Marpissa for­mosa have been lo­cated near fresh­wa­ter bod­ies of water. Mem­bers of the genus have been spot­ted in marshes and on cat­tails. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014)

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Marpissa for­mosa has four sets of legs, with the first set being slightly shorter than the rest. They have three pairs of spines lo­cated be­neath the tibia. The ab­domen of Marpissa for­mosa is marked with an an­gu­lar cen­tral band. This genus is well-known for hav­ing short bod­ies and a large set of eyes. Fe­males of this species are dark brown, with a nar­row black band and oc­ca­sion­ally some white scales. The first pair of legs are brown and the rest are yel­low. Males are a darker shade of brown with the nar­row black band with patches of white scales. Patches of black hairs sur­round the eyes. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014; Barnes, 1958; Shelford, 1963)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • female larger
  • male more colorful
  • Range length
    5.75 to 8 mm
    0.23 to 0.31 in
  • Average length
    7 mm
    0.28 in

De­vel­op­ment

There is lit­tle in­for­ma­tion avail­able on the spe­cific de­vel­op­ment of Marpissa for­mosa. Most jump­ing spi­der species are laid as eggs in the spring and sum­mer, guarded by the fe­male. They hatch as spi­der­lings and re­main under the pro­tec­tion of the fe­male until at least the first in­star, usu­ally for about a month. The young spi­der­lings then leave the nest and dis­perse, to hunt and live in­de­pen­dently. They go through sev­eral molts be­fore be­com­ing adults ca­pa­ble of re­pro­duc­tion. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014)

Re­pro­duc­tion

The genus Marpissa are di­mor­phic, with the males hav­ing con­spic­u­ous col­oration to at­tract fe­males. The males will pre­form com­plex dances that are spe­cific to each species of jump­ing spi­der. The males will pre­form a va­ri­ety of moves, from just the lift­ing of legs to bob­bing, twitch­ing, zig zag mo­tions, and flash­ing mouth parts. Some mem­bers of the genus are able to pro­duce au­di­ble sounds, such as a buzzing sound or a sound re­sem­bling a drum roll. Fe­males then choose their mates based on these elab­o­rate courtship dances. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014)

After mat­ing, Marpissa for­mosa fe­males will lay their eggs in silk tents made by males, guard­ing her eggs as well as her newly hatched off­spring. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014)

Fe­males of the genus Marpissa will guard their eggs and young off­spring. After the young dis­perse, no more parental care is pro­vided. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014; Guar­isco, et al., 2001)

  • Parental Investment
  • female parental care
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-independence
    • protecting
      • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The lifes­pan of Marpissa for­mosa is un­known, but most jump­ing spi­ders do not live more than a year from birth to death.

Be­hav­ior

Marpissa for­mosa moves around in quick, jerky move­ments. This genus does not spin webs for catch­ing prey, but rather builds small tent like struc­tures in which they sit and wait for prey. The genus Marpissa will stalk their prey until it is close enough for them to jump on it. The spi­der will then lift their front legs and jump on its prey. The spi­der can jump over twice the length of its body. They hunt pri­mar­ily dur­ing the day be­cause this is when their eye­sight is the strongest. Jump­ing spi­ders, in­clud­ing those in the genus Marpissa have been shown in lab­o­ra­tory set­tings to learn ex­ten­sively from en­coun­ters with prey. They learn to dif­fer­en­ti­ate prey items, and their hunt­ing skills grow as they age. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Jump­ing spi­ders have ex­cep­tional eye­sight. Their eight eyes allow for color vi­sion, mo­tion de­tec­tion, binoc­u­lar vi­sion, and high vi­sual acu­ity. This al­lows for Marpissa for­mosa to nav­i­gate its en­vi­ron­ment, find mates, and lo­cate prey mainly based on vi­sual cues. Dur­ing courtship dis­plays, males also com­mu­ni­cate with fe­males by mak­ing buzzing sounds and an­other au­di­ble sounds that re­sem­bles a drum roll. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014; Liedtke and Schnei­der, 2014)

Food Habits

Mari­possa for­mosa is an in­sec­ti­vore and will sit and wait for prey to pass. These spi­ders will gen­er­ally take in­ter­est in what ap­proaches them, but gen­er­ally will feed on in­sects, in­clud­ing web-build­ing spi­ders, or other jump­ing spi­ders that are smaller than them in size. The genus Marpissa is known to steal prey from the webs of spi­ders as well. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014; Sadana, 1991)

  • Animal Foods
  • insects
  • terrestrial non-insect arthropods

Pre­da­tion

There are no known preda­tors of Marpissa for­mosa, but in gen­eral, jump­ing spi­ders are preyed upon by a wide va­ri­ety of ver­te­brate and in­ver­te­brate preda­tors. These in­clude mam­mals, birds, lizards, wasps, and other spi­ders. (Guar­isco, et al., 2001)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Marpissa for­mosa is a preda­tor of many other in­sect and spi­der species. These jump­ing spi­ders also serve as prey to a va­ri­ety of preda­tors, in­clud­ing mam­mals, birds, and other spi­ders. ("Rare Species Guide", 2014; Guar­isco, et al., 2001)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Marpissa for­mosa helps con­trol other in­sect pop­u­la­tions that may be con­sid­ered nui­sances to hu­mans. (Guar­isco, et al., 2001)

  • Positive Impacts
  • controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of Marpissa for­mosa on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Marpissa for­mosa has no spe­cial con­ser­va­tion sta­tus. ("Na­ture­Serve Ex­plorer", 2013; "Rare Species Guide", 2014)

Con­trib­u­tors

Gina Thomp­son (au­thor), Min­nesota State Uni­ver­sity Mankato, Robert Sorensen (ed­i­tor), Min­nesota State Uni­ver­sity, Mankato, An­gela Miner (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

Glossary

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

carnivore

an animal that mainly eats meat

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
ectothermic

animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature

female parental care

parental care is carried out by females

fertilization

union of egg and spermatozoan

heterothermic

having a body temperature that fluctuates with that of the immediate environment; having no mechanism or a poorly developed mechanism for regulating internal body temperature.

insectivore

An animal that eats mainly insects or spiders.

internal fertilization

fertilization takes place within the female's body

marsh

marshes are wetland areas often dominated by grasses and reeds.

metamorphosis

A large change in the shape or structure of an animal that happens as the animal grows. In insects, "incomplete metamorphosis" is when young animals are similar to adults and change gradually into the adult form, and "complete metamorphosis" is when there is a profound change between larval and adult forms. Butterflies have complete metamorphosis, grasshoppers have incomplete metamorphosis.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

riparian

Referring to something living or located adjacent to a waterbody (usually, but not always, a river or stream).

saltatorial

specialized for leaping or bounding locomotion; jumps or hops.

sedentary

remains in the same area

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

visual

uses sight to communicate

Ref­er­ences

2013. "Na­ture­Serve Ex­plorer" (On-line). Ac­cessed April 19, 2014 at http://​explorer.​natureserve.​org/​servlet/​NatureServe?​sourceTemplate=tabular_​report.​wmt&​loadTemplate=species_​RptComprehensive.​wmt&​selectedReport=RptComprehensive.​wmt&​summaryView=tabular_​report.​wmt&​elKey=849827&​paging=home&​save=true&​startIndex=1&​nextStartIndex=1&​reset=false&​offPageSelectedElKey=849827&​offPageSelectedElType=species&​offPageYesNo=true&​post_​processes=&​radiobutton=radiobutton&​selectedIndexes=849827.

2014. "Rare Species Guide" (On-line). Min­nesota De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources. Ac­cessed April 19, 2014 at http://​www.​dnr.​state.​mn.​us/​rsg/​profile.​html?​action=elementDetail&​selectedElement=ILARAC0010.

Barnes, R. 1958. North Amer­i­can Jump­ing Spi­ders of the Sub-Fam­ily Marpissi­nae (Araneae, Salti­ci­dae). Amer­i­can Mu­seum Novi­tates, 1867: 1-50. Ac­cessed March 20, 2014 at http://​digitallibrary.​amnh.​org/​dspace/​bitstream/​handle/​2246/​4449//​v2/​dspace/​ingest/​pdfSource/​nov/​N1867.​pdf?​sequence=1.

Becca­loni, J. 2009. Arach­nids. Berke­ley, CA: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press.

Bradley, R. 2012. Com­mon Spi­ders of North Amer­ica. Cal­i­for­nia: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press.

Cof­fin, B., L. Pfan­n­muller. 1988. Min­nesota's En­dan­gered Flora and Fauna. Min­neapo­lis, MN: Uni­ver­sity of Min­nesota Press for the Nat­ural Her­itage and Nongame Wildlife pro­grams of the Di­vi­sion of Fish and Wildlife, Min­nesota Dept. of Nat­ural Re­sources.

Com­stock, J. 1913. The Spi­der Book. Gar­den City, NY: Dou­ble­day, Page & Com­pany.

Guar­isco, H., B. Cut­ler, K. Kin­man. 2001. Check­list of Kansas Jump­ing Spi­ders. The Kansas School Nat­u­ral­ist, 41: 1. Ac­cessed March 20, 2014 at http://​www.​emporia.​edu/​ksn/​v47n1-february2001/​.

Guar­isco, H., H. Fitch. 1995. Spi­ders of the Kansas Eco­log­i­cal Re­serves. Trans­ac­tions of the Kansas Acad­emy of Sci­ence, 98: 118-129.

Liedtke, J., J. Schnei­der. 2014. As­so­ci­a­tion and re­ver­sal learn­ing abil­i­ties in a jump­ing spi­der. Be­hav­ioural Processes, 103: 192-198.

Sadana, G. 1991. Mode of hunt­ing and func­tional re­spose of the spi­der Marpissa tig­rina (Sali­ci­dae: Arach­nida) to the den­sity of its prey, Di­aphor­nia citri. En­tomon, 16/4: 279-282. Ac­cessed April 23, 2014 at http://​swfrec.​ifas.​ufl.​edu/​hlb/​database/​pdf/​00002266.​pdf.

Shelford, V. 1963. The Ecol­ogy of North Amer­ica. Ur­bana: Uni­ver­sity of Illi­nois Press.