Fringed jumping spider

Description:

The Little Devil - Portia fimbriata spiderlings I was observing a female Portia fimbriata for a few days. She was actively hunting regularly. Sometimes she would feed on a mother Loxosceles sp and the egg case! Her abdomen would then be bulged up like a balloon. Soon after the feeding she would retreat into her hide, which is a dry leaf hanging under a small ledge, surrounded by discarded spider exoskeletons and a very very unity web. Yesterday she was in her hide and I saw many tiny fruit fly like insects all over the web and around the mother spider. To my delight they turned out to be tiny Portia fimbriata spiderlings!!! I had the wish to see these little spiderlings from so long :-D Some of them were venturing out slowly which gave me the opportunity to get their close-ups. As I was photographing a spiderling up-close, it suddenly launched into the air and vanished. This happened a few times when I realized what was going on. They were ballooning their way out to new locations! The training begins at this tender age as seen in picture 4, the spiderling is feeding on a Salticidae limb. Some spiderlings even had a tiny fly in their grasp! I couldn't get the best possible shots because of the web surrounding the spiderlings. But I am happy with what I got. :-) 1st picture: Frontal shot 2nd picture: Lateral shot 3rd picture: Dorsal shot 4th picture: Mother spider looking after her babies 5th picture: The group of spiderlings 6th picture: Close-up of spiderlings feeding on a Salticidae limb.

Habitat:

Urban