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Portia Jumping Spider | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Portia Jumping Spider

Portia fimbriata

ArachnidaRainforest understorey and forest edges, often in and around the webs of other spiders

Field profile

A slow, shaggy jumping spider that looks like a scrap of leaf litter and hunts mainly other spiders. It combines the sharp vision of its family with unusually flexible tactics, and much of what is known about spider cognition comes from studying it.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-06-29

Portia Jumping Spider

Portia takes detours that hide its prey

Before moving, Portia scans a scene from a distance, then follows an indirect route that can take an hour and removes the target from view for most of it. The spider arrives above the prey it can no longer see.

Read with evidence →