How does the Portia jumping spider see?
The Portia jumping spider (Portia fimbriata) is a spider in the order Araneae. Its eyes belong to the vision type Jumping spider: principal eyes with a small high-acuity field + secondary eyes for 360 motion; UV/green (+red in some).
Measured in this species: sharpness and foveas. Measured colour or sharpness: a measured receptor set or acuity in this species; other dials come from relatives or group defaults. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
What stands out
- It has 4 colour receptor classes, including ultraviolet; people have 3.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 12 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 40 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[4][3]
- Activity pattern: diurnal.
The six dials
Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.
| Dial | Value | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Colour receptors 4 receptor classes: 360 nm (UVS), 490 nm (MWS (green)), 534 nm (MWS (green)), 580 nm (LWS (long)) receptor set of nearest measured relative Menemerus fulvus (same family Salticidae) | Estimated | [1] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Estimated | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 12 cycles per degree species-v1.csv (value measured in this species; not in tidy tables) | Measured (not re-verified) | [2] |
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | Number of foveas 1 species-v1.csv text: principal eyes: tiered retina (layer 1 = fovea-like) | Measured (not re-verified) | [2] |
| Fovea type principal eyes: tiered retina (layer 1 = fovea-like) | Measured (not re-verified) | [2] | |
| Night vision | Activity pattern diurnal mode of 3 relatives in family Salticidae: Menemerus fulvus, Phidippus regius, Plexippus validus | Estimated | [1] |
| Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) | Estimated | [1] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 40 Hz median of 1 relatives in family Salticidae: Maevia inclemens | Estimated | [3] |
Related animals
- Tiger wandering spider same vision type
- Jumping spider (Menemerus fulvus) same vision type
- Jumping spider (Maevia inclemens) same vision type
- Wolf spider (Lycosa baltimoriana) same vision type
- Wolf spider (Lycosa beihaiensis) same vision type
More spiders: all spiders with measured vision data.
Sources
- Longcore T. 2023. A compendium of photopigment peak sensitivities and visual spectral response curves of terrestrial wildlife to guide design of outdoor nighttime lighting. Basic Appl Ecol 73:40-50. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.09.002. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432720
- species_v1:Williams & McIntyre 1980
- Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
- Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?