I did this image of a salticid, (also known as a jumping spider), in mid flight. What is coolest about it is that it is from a vantage point that you could never really photograph. They are one of the many cool spiders that DO NOT make webs to catch prey, but are inquisitive, extremely intelligent, active hunters that launch themselves airborne onto their unsuspecting prey.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my web-bound spiders. But that they normally rely on vibrations and not visual cues means that evolution has dealt them a hand of very poor vision. Salticids, at the opposite end of the spectrum, have evolved one of their pairs of “median” eyes to become greatly enlarged, so they have incredible vision. They can even move their eyes independently, and relative to most other invertebrates, focus on subjects far from themselves.
They are also known for their deft ability to learn and solve problems in approaching prey. Often in search of the best angle to approach their unsuspecting prey, salticids, (specifically Portias) have been observed taking such far flung routes to reach the prey that they break visual contact with it! check out this wikipedia description on Portias: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portia_%28genus%29
In making this illustration, the most difficult part was figuring out the posture of the legs. You can imagine how impossible it is to observe a jumping spider in mid-flight…just watching one move from place to place, it happens so fast you never even see the inbetween, just poof! and its on the next leaf. I am lucky enough to have captured a partial stereo image of a jumping spider jumping toward the lense bracket of my macro camera! So I was able to use it, and other generalized illustrations, like in Rainier Foelix’s book on spiders, to come up with this illustration. I loved doing it, and hope to illustrate many more salticids.
