(Common) Zebra Jumping Spider Salticus scenicus
Male, often dark, always with large jaws (chelicerae) and small abdomen.
Female, usually paler, with larger abdomen.
The (Common) Zebra Jumping Spider is a small jumping spider with white hairs on dark brown or black in a striped,
sometimes zebra-like, pattern on its abdomen.
There are three different, similar-looking species of Zebra Jumping Spider native to the UK. The one shown
here is the most common and the one usually found around human habitation - also called the the Common Zebra Spider.
The other two are Salticus cingulatus, usually much lighter and encountered in countryside,
and S. zebraneus, usually much darker and limited (in the UK) to parts of southeast England.
It has white markings on its brown or black head, often in a cross shape, particularly on the females.
It has good eyesight, with eight eyes including two extra-large front binocular eyes.
(Above left is a paler male.)
Zebra Jumping Spiders are prevalent through much of the northern hemisphere.
(Although all shown here were on or by my south-facing kitchen wall in northwest London.)
They are only 5-9mm long (females larger than males), but they jump well.
(Above centre: is it eating spider eggs?)
While jumping spiders do not build webs to catch prey (they stalk and jump), they can make silk lines
to prevent a fall or thicker webbing for moult protection or egg sacs; the pale male in the image above centre may have been caught
in another spider's web.