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Fun Facts
Did You Know?
Phidippus johnsoni hunts by stalking. The spider detects prey at considerable distance with its large principal eyes, then approaches using a deliberate series of slow advances and pauses that minimize prey detection of the approaching predator. The stalk terminates in a precise leap that covers several body lengths, seizing the prey with the chelicerae. The dragline attached before the leap provides recovery if the landing misses
If This Animal Could Talk...
"Watch closely, respect my space, and let my habitat explain the rest of the story."
Most spider encounters in North Louisiana end with the spider moving away. The red-faced jumping spider, Phidippus johnsoni, turns toward you. That response, an adult jumping spider rotating on its substrate to face the approaching observer and fixing you with its four large forward-facing eyes, produces a genuinely unusual wildlife encounter: a spider the size of a blueberry making deliberate eye contact and appearing to assess the situation with something that looks like curiosity and may actually be curiosity, or at least a functional analog of it.
Phidippus johnsoni ranks among the most visually dramatic of North Louisiana's jumping spiders. Males show a bright red abdomen with black lateral stripes, visible from several feet in good light. Females show red coloration on the abdomen with more variable patterning. Both sexes show the characteristic jumping spider face: two enormous forward-facing principal eyes flanked by two smaller secondary eyes, all set in the flat-fronted face of the family Salticidae.
A Few More Facts
How they hunt and forage: Flying insects, beetles, caterpillars, and other arthropods in the prey size range accessible to a half-inch spider. Red-faced jumping spiders also consume other spiders, including web-building spiders caught in their own webs or encountered on vegetation surfaces. The capacity to consume other spiders extends the prey range to include a competitor trophic level. Phidippus johnsoni at half an inch body length accesses prey in the medium invertebrate size range: flies, beetles, small moths, caterpillars, and the various garden insects that occupy the fence and wall surface layer. Prey selection in jumping spiders does not operate purely by size, however. Jumping spiders show prey preferences based on visual features including color, movement pattern, and shape that produce selective hunting behavior toward preferred prey types even when other prey remains available.
Live birth or eggs? no
When young are born: See the detailed species sections below.
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Accessibility
Accessibility
Red-faced jumping spiders on sun-facing fence posts, building walls, and plant stems present for observation at standing height from maintained paths and garden areas throughout North Louisiana from spring through fall. The face-forward orientation response to slow approach places the spider in optimal photographic position without requiring close ground-level access. South-facing exterior walls on sunny mornings in summer and fall produce the most consistent encounter opportunities with adult individuals at accessible observation height.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Red-Faced Jumping Spider live in North Louisiana?
Yes. Most spider encounters in North Louisiana end with the spider moving away. Phidippus johnsoni ranks among the most visually dramatic of North Louisiana's jumping spiders. Open and semi-open habitats throughout North Louisiana: garden vegetation, fence lines, building exteriors, and woodland edges with enough sunlight for active hunting
How do you identify Red-Faced Jumping Spider?
Males span three-eighths to five-eighths of an inch. The abdomen shows brilliant red with black lateral margins, the cephalothorax shows black, and the leg color varies between black and red-orange tones depending on individual and age. Fresh males at peak color produce the red-black contrast that justifies the common name and makes them identifiable from ten feet on sunlit vegetation
What does Red-Faced Jumping Spider eat?
Flying insects, beetles, caterpillars, and other arthropods in the prey size range accessible to a half-inch spider. Red-faced jumping spiders also consume other spiders, including web-building spiders caught in their own webs or encountered on vegetation surfaces. The capacity to consume other spiders extends the prey range to include a competitor trophic level
Is Red-Faced Jumping Spider dangerous to people?
It is not aggressive toward people. Bites are uncommon and usually happen only when a spider is trapped against skin, so observe without handling