Evarcha falcata - A Jumping Spider

(Clerck, 1757)

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Family Salticiae

Description:

Female carapace dark-brown with blackish, shiny head. Thorax clothed with brown hairs. Abdomen uniform reddish-brown or greyish-brown, sometimes dark spots are present at its sides. Male appear mottled. Carapace dark-brown or black with rather dense brown hairs in the head region. Sides of carapace with broad white or ligth brown bands joined in front by a transverse bar above the anterior row of eyes. Abdomen red-brown with black bands at sides with a narrow white band encircling folium. Femora I enlarged and black. Size: Female 6-8 mm; male 5 mm. Maturity: May to August.

Habitat: Sunny forest edges and clearings, often on heather and other low vegetation

 

Evarcha arcuata (Clerck, 1757)
Description: Female carapace with dark-brown, somewhat shiny head. Thorax brown,unevenly clothed with white hairs. Abdomen mottled with brown, white and black and with oblique streaks posteriorly in these colours, sometimes the streaks form chevrons. The male has a complete different appearance, almost uniform dark-brown to black and with a metallic sheen. Clypeus with two distinct transverse rows of white hairs, and below these, another transverse row is present on the chelicereae. Eyes of the anterior row are ringed with white hairs. The femur, patella and tibia og legs I are enlarged. Size: Female 6-8 mm; male 5-6 mm. Maturity: June to October. Habitat: In Denmark primarily wet heathland. In warmer climates the species is found in other wet habitats as well, typically damp meadows, riparian zones and wet undergrowth of open forests. Sometimes also at drier habitats. Range: Widespread in Denmark but rare. More common in countries to the south of Denmark, sometimes locally abundant.