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Jumping Spiders

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Jumping Spiders are one of the cutest spiders in the world. They belong to the family Salticidae, they are the largest family group of spiders (6,500 species), which is 13% of all spiders. They are commonly found all over the world in a range of habitats, they are daylight hunters as they don't build webs to catch prey, they hunt by using their incredible long distance stereoscopic vision and rather than going at a prey in a straight line they use their intelligent navigation skills by following a circuitous path to stalk and capture their prey successfully. 

Jumping Spiders are active and curious creatures, their bites are harmless to humans. 

They can be identified by the shape of the cephalothorax and the eye pattern of their forward-facing two large centre eyes and two small eyes on each side as they standout among other spider families and they come in many different body sizes, from 3mm to 2.5cm (0.118in to 0.9in). 

I've built 3 models for this project, 1 Australian species and 2 American species. The 3 models are slightly different in shape but are not actual size comparison between each model. From left to right.

Caerulean-blue Peacock Spider (Maratus Caeruleus)
Species Range: Isolated Island in Western Australia
Size (Body length): Male: 5mm (0.19in) (Largest of all Maratus) and Female: unknown. 
Facts: 
  • Peacock Spiders are the superstars of the spider world, they belong to the Genus Maratus. There are over 110 species found in Australia and one species found in China. The size of male Peacock spiders range from 2 to 5 millimetres (0.079 to 0.197)
  • The male are known as Peacock-like by the way they dance with their colourful abdomen to attract a female. Each species of Male Peacock spider has a unique and complex courtship dance that shows the motion of slowly raising their third pair of legs and unfold their unique shape abdomen of brightly colourful patterns backwards and forwards from side to side.
  • The females aren’t as colourful as the males but are slightly larger than the male which are many other spider families by 1 to 2 millimetres. (0.039 to 0.079 inches)
  • Peacock Spiders have been discovered by a number of biologists. The courtship dance wasn't known to science until 2005 when Jürgen Otto, from Sydney, NSW who became the first to observe the behaviour and has filmed and uploaded Youtube videos of a number of Peacock Spiders over the years. A video of a Maratus speciosus has gained over 8 million views as of March 2023. (YT: Peacockspiderman)

Undescribed (Peckhamia .sp)
Species Range: North America and
Size (Body length): Approx 3 to 4mm (0.118 to 0.157in)
Facts:
  • The genus Peckhamia are Jumping spiders which are one of the few spiders that mimicry ants. This bright red coloured Jumping spider use their second set of front legs to simulate the antennas of ants, while other species can emit a chemical mimicry that can help provide a extra layer of protection from being detected by their targeted ant colony.

Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus Addax)
Range: North America, Southern Canada, Northern Mexico and Hawaii
Size (Body length): Male are 1.2 cm (0.47 in), Female 1.4 to 1.5 cm (0.55 to 0.59 in)
Facts
  • Male Bold Jumping spiders use their colourful chelicerae (fangs) of blue and green as apart of the courtship dance by waving their forelegs and creating a rhythmic pattern by drumming the ground.
  • There are 3 visual stages of the development of the Bold Jumping spider, orange spots on the abdomen is seen in the younger spiders. The colours change to white as they mature.
  • Bold Jumping spider has eyebrow hairs above the eyes.
  • They are mostly shy but have been known to be kept as pets.

What got me into the world of spiders in general was through a lens of Macro Photography. Seeing jumping spiders up close in the wild made me a huge fan of Jumping Spiders! 

I think this Lego set will help educate the importance of spiders as a natural pest control. Once you go down the rabbit hole of Jumping Spiders, you will truely be amazed and fascinated by all kinds of spiders, their shapes, their colours and how they contribute to the ecosystem in your garden. 

Caerulean-blue Peacock Spider (Maratus Caeruleus)
Model size:
  • Studs: 18 x 19 x 14
  • Centimetres: 14.4 x 15.2 x 11.2
  • Inches: 5.66 x 5.98 x 4.40
Pieces: 
  • 407 pecies

Peckhamia .sp
Model size:
  • Studs: 23 x 21 x 7
  • Centimetres: 18.4 x 16.8 x 5.6
  • Inches: 7.24 x 6.61 x 2.20
No. of Pieces:
  • 334 pieces

Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus Addax)
Model size:
  • Studs: 19 x 23 x 7
  • Centimetres: 15.2 x 18.4 x 5.6
  • Inches: 5.98 x 5.79 x 2.20
No. of Pieces:
  • 308 pieces

Total Number of pieces: 1049 pieces

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