Gray Wall Jumper

I glanced to my side while walking and happened to notice this minuscule little lady hanging out on the pier at Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World — so she might actually be a clever animatronic spider.

Gray wall jumper spiders (Menemerus bivittatus) are actually human imports to Florida, but fortunately they’re one of the non-pestiferous ones. They eat nasty things like gnats, flies and mosquitoes, and don’t outcompete or consume our native spiders. They also like hanging around human structures (like the Disney pier). Anything that keeps mosquitoes away from my house is a friend of mine….

This adult female is about 8mm long (and absolutely adorable). Males are more slender bodied with bolder stripes.

Male gray wall jumpers can also “chirp”! They have several long bristles on their pedipalps and a series of ridges on their mouthparts. Rubbing these bits together produces a vibration the female can hear, commonly believed to be part of a courtship display.

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