This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Jumping spiders (salticids) are so diverse, it's difficult to choose how to organize and express all the different kinds. To convey what we've found in Borneo, let's start with shapes -- geometrical shapes.
First, the circle. Here are two round jumping spiders from our travels in Borneo. Pystira, which we called affectionately "the bumblebee", and Simaetha.
It's hard to find square jumping spiders, but here's my attempt. This is a male that I think is Porius.
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Triangular jumping spiders? Both Uroballus and Ptocasius are triangular, with the abdomen ending in a point.
A natural progression from circle to square to triangle might come next to line. Well, jumping spiders do have width, but these two are pretty thin. First, a male Viciria.
Next, a species I don't recognize, though it might be near Bavia. We call it the "clown" for its bold black and white markings. It lives on palm leaves.
And finally, we arrive to a point. This tiny jumping spider may be related to Simaetha. It's a polished black color, and only about 1.5 mm long. It's bigger than the period at the end of a sentence, but not by much.
Previously in this series:
Spiders in Borneo: Introduction
Spiders in Borneo: Undiscovered biodiversity
Spiders in Borneo: The guests of honor: Salticidae
Spiders in Borneo: Team Salticid
Spiders in Borneo: Mulu National Park
Spiders in Borneo: Dreaming about salticid spiders
Spiders in Borneo: Jumping spiders in the forest
Spiders in Borneo: Beating around the bushes
Spiders in Borneo: Spiders in leaf litter
Spiders in Borneo: A Vertical Life
Spiders in Borneo: Leeches and eyeballs
Spiders in Borneo: Breaking News!
Spiders in Borneo: Falling from above
Spiders in Borneo: What I carry
Spiders in Borneo: Entangled and pierced
Spiders in Borneo: Scattered literature
Spiders in Borneo: Mulu wrap-up
Spiders in Borneo: Lambir Hills
Spiders in Borneo: Replaying the Tape of Life
Spiders in Borneo: More Hispo at Lambir
Text and images © W. Maddison, under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC-BY)