Family: Salticidae
Genus: Hasarius
Species: Hasarius adansoni

♂5.5mm

♀6.5mm

EDA 19-11-2014 WED 11:01AM

19-11-2014 EDA

Hasarius adansoni (Audouin, 1826) Adanson's House Jumping Spider

A lively, inquisitive and audacious cosmopolitan species found in most of Australia except very cold places and deserts. It is mostly found in or around buildings. It is naturally distributed in warmer climates around the world and also found worldwide in greenhouses and similar places, for example in several German zoos. Size and patterns vary according to location. The female is drab brown. The male is more recognisable by bright white fluffy pedipalps, a strong garland of white on the rear of the head, two big white spots in the rear part of the upper surface of the abdomen and sometimes a smaller pair of white dots even closer to the spinnerets. It is one of better described species of jumping spider in the world, having been described originally as Attus adansonii by Audouin in 1826, then redescribed in officially recognised literature another 22 times by 2013, often placed in other genera. The first placement into Hasarius was made by the French arachnologist Eugène Simon in 1871. ♀ 7mm ♂ 6mm

Hasarius adansoni, also called Adanson's House Jumper, is a species of jumping spider.

H. adansoni is found in warmer climates around the world, for example Japan, Taiwan and Australia. It has also been introduced worldwide in greenhouses and similar places, for example in several German zoos. In China it is distributed in the provinces of Gansu, Guangxi, Guangzhou and Yunnan.

Females grow up to 8mm, males up to 6mm.

The males are mostly black, with a red "mask" and pedipalps that are partly white. A white crescent is present on the back part of the abdomen, and another one on the front part of the opisthosoma. There are two small white dots on the posterior back, and two even smaller ones towards the end. These white areas - especially on the pedipalps - have a nacre-like iridescence.

Females are dark brown, with a lighter and somewhat rufous opisthosoma.


These spiders build a silken retreat at night, which is are about twice the length of the animal. Although the same retreat is sometimes reused, others are built in the vicinity.

Male individuals have been seen to feed on immature females, although this may be by accident.