Fencepost jumper Marpissa muscosa
In close ups the Fencepost Jumper is quite a beautiful creature. But usually you see it from a distance and then it certainly is less spectacular. The colours are ideal to make the animal disappear, so to speak, in the background. The mall is 6 to 8 millimeters long, the female 8 to 11 millimeters. And that makes her the biggest junping spider in Western-Europe. The nest is made under dead bark of trees and several females may make nests close together. In one case 100 nests were found very close to one another. Apparently Fencepost Jumpers have a social structure, for there is a hierarchy. Weaker animals will greet the more powerful ones and then retreat. This jumping spider is capable of jumping some 25 centimeters in one jump.
The male is in the bottom picture. The female is in all other pictures.
