Jumping spiders are awesome.

July 27, 2007 7:02 AM

Jumping spiders use their legs to communicate courtship interests to potential mates. The minuscule impacts of spider legs tapping against the ground surface are detected by nearby spiders. This "drumming" cadence signals the spider's reproductive interests. The female detects the low frequency vibrations through her legs. She responds by allowing the male to mount her. Absolutely amazing video here. The sound is the best part, so make sure it's on.
posted by lazaruslong (53 comments total)

Welp, I know I'm aroused anyway.
posted by dgaicun at 7:10 AM on July 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

NSFW.
posted by LarryC at 7:12 AM on July 27, 2007

That was very, very cool! Pity about the climax, though. I guess it has an unhappy ending?
posted by fish tick at 7:12 AM on July 27, 2007

Wow. That is amazing. Merzbow's got nothing on the jumping spider beats. I'm curious to hear what it sounds like slowed down to half or quarter speed. Great find lazaruslong.
posted by isopraxis at 7:22 AM on July 27, 2007

Whoa. That's some insistent vibrating toward the end there. Too bad there's no info about where it came from.
posted by mediareport at 7:22 AM on July 27, 2007

More jumping spider courtship.
posted by nilihm at 7:35 AM on July 27, 2007

I'm trying that in the bar tonight.
posted by rhizome23 at 7:37 AM on July 27, 2007

I am never watching that video. Nope, never. Did I say never? Because I meant never.

Is there an emoticon for "shivering in unwashable fright"?
posted by Mikey-San at 7:38 AM on July 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm usually pretty squicked out by spiders as well, but my utter fascination with this bizarrely vocal mating ritual won out.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:42 AM on July 27, 2007

Jumping spiders are awesome. They're very social -- if you encounter one in your home, they're likely to lift themselves up on their back legs and open their foremost extremities as if to say, O HAI I AM A SPIDER WULD U LIKE A HUG?!? Sadly, I am sure many (harmless, friendly) jumping spiders have been squashed as a consequence of this behavior.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:43 AM on July 27, 2007 [19 favorites]

Oh internet, I can't stay mad at you! Stuff like this almost validates all my time spent browsing about.
posted by picea at 7:44 AM on July 27, 2007

Upvote!
posted by maudlin at 8:10 AM on July 27, 2007

I thought every guy has to do this before getting some. No?

*Dear Ask Metafilter....*
posted by chillmost at 8:15 AM on July 27, 2007

GAHHH!!! Ceiling spider is watching you piss yourself in fear.

(Go ahead and search "spider" at VideoSift. I dare you.)
posted by maudlin at 8:15 AM on July 27, 2007

Jumping spiders rear up on their hind legs? Jesus. Christ. I wish I had extra italics for most of the words of that sentence.
posted by blacklite at 8:17 AM on July 27, 2007

I'm not sure if I want to watch spiders copulate.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:27 AM on July 27, 2007

This might be one of the most frightening things I've ever seen in my life. I really wish I hadn't watch this. I will have nightmares for years now. Thanks.
posted by greasepig at 8:33 AM on July 27, 2007

watched
posted by greasepig at 8:33 AM on July 27, 2007

Is that ceiling spider real? That's truly awesomely hideously terrifying if it is (reaffirming my firm desire to never ever set foot on that god forsaken continent)
posted by zeoslap at 8:39 AM on July 27, 2007

Wow, very cool, looks like he is doing some cool voodoo hypnosis type thing.
posted by zeoslap at 8:42 AM on July 27, 2007

Jumping spiders are so cool, so many colors, so many patterns.
The local ones are velvety with a blood red back, very kawaii!!
posted by Iron Rat at 8:45 AM on July 27, 2007

Marvellous drama of the drumrolls and upraised conductor's hands-legs raised straight up. Great sense of suspenseful timing and the sound quality is so great. And then when he stood up all all tiptoes. whoa.

Maybe he never saw any palp action and he wasn't playing her song and that's why it ended the way it did? Or maybe it was censored?

That's a fun post, thanks lazaruslong.

Spider pr0n revisited.

In other spider sex movies, it's the onlookers who make the show: the Animal Guys and a breathless female film tarantulas, Two young boys filming (almost totally blurred) a pair of Daddy-Long-Legs. The writing on the side is the funny part of this video of a scrawny looking male black widow and a scarily large female.
posted by nickyskye at 8:53 AM on July 27, 2007

Wow that is freaky as hell. It finally loaded for me. I think the weirdest thing about the insect world, to me, is how non-biological it seems. Completely alien. BLOM BLOM BRRRRRR BLOM BLOM. It could have been from Mars.

And then he marching-bands himself right up on her.

DUN DUN DUN DUN.

... maybe that would be kind of fun actually.
posted by blacklite at 9:05 AM on July 27, 2007

I'm waiting for the jumping spiders' version of Paranoid Android. (Take that, UMass!)
posted by maudlin at 9:08 AM on July 27, 2007

NOT AWESOME! NOT COOL!
posted by tkchrist at 9:16 AM on July 27, 2007 [4 favorites]

This is awesome.
posted by Tehanu at 9:24 AM on July 27, 2007

AWESOME! COOL!
also terribly freaky and scary.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 9:29 AM on July 27, 2007

That was fascinating.

But after watching him flick his forelegs up in the air in time to the beat, I'm never going to be able to watch flamenco dancing again. Not with a straight face, anyway.
posted by Zinger at 9:36 AM on July 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

Reminded me of that Joaquin Cortés flamenco dancing guy. Lots of tapping and vibrations there too.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 9:49 AM on July 27, 2007

Aghhhh! Had the same idea as you, Zinger.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 9:49 AM on July 27, 2007

I was trying to come up with some sort of pun on Max Roach, but it felt forced, and I'm tired.

Awesome, great post. And was I the only one looking for World War 1 fighter planes outside while listening to this?
posted by Aversion Therapy at 10:08 AM on July 27, 2007

That was really cool! I am usually creeped out by spiders, but there was something about the insistence and drama and musicality of that guy that was fascinating. I loved how the female spider just sat there stock-still, either in nonchalance ("Yawn. I've seen better.") or total, abject fear. If it were me, it would be fear, but then I am not a spider.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:16 AM on July 27, 2007

There are certain members of Metafilter bent and determined to have me bite out MY OWN MOTHER FUCKING TONGUE IN HOLY TERROR!

I HEREBY IMPOSE A SPIDER BAN!!!

PS. not spiderist.
posted by tkchrist at 10:36 AM on July 27, 2007

He sounds like a puttering motorbike. Nifty.
posted by zennie at 11:03 AM on July 27, 2007

"Show me your Paso Doble!" (grotesque Strickly Ballroom reference)

Seriously though, did anyone else have the words Toro! Toro! going throught their heads? That's totally a spanish dance of lurve.
posted by eatdonuts at 11:04 AM on July 27, 2007

Question - what does one use for capturing audio like something so small? Was it microphone of some kind? It looks like the spiders are on some sort of mat, too. Maybe full of sensors? Anyone?
posted by jquinby at 11:12 AM on July 27, 2007

er, that should be "...from something so small"
posted by jquinby at 11:13 AM on July 27, 2007

So basically male spiders seranade their womenfolk? Or is this more of a "hey baby, what's up? MY FORELEGS!" kind of pickup line?

Still, jumping spiders are awesome. Spiders in general are. Since no house is ever totally bug-free, I'm always on board with anything creepy-crawly that feeds on other creepy-crawlies instead of, say, my snack cookies.
posted by davejay at 11:41 AM on July 27, 2007

This only proves my theory that spiders are really some kind of killing machine. That cadence? That weren't no cadence. That was AOL dialup, 'cuz Spidey ain't been upgraded, but he'll be damned if doesn't download a map of your bed. He'll wait.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to curl up in a Raid-coated corner and cry.
posted by katillathehun at 11:48 AM on July 27, 2007

With his colors and general awesomeness, this jumping spider shouldn't have to dance to seduce. I CAN HAZ FORELEGPLAYZ.

Those eyes. Is he trying to pull one of those limpid pools seductions?

Some cool jumping spider macros.

Some cool pics and a bunch of movies of Jumping Spider courtship.

If it were me, it would be fear, but then I am not a spider.

I think in most cases with spiders it's the male who's totally scared and dancing so he isn't chomped or dancing to mesmerise with flamenco bravado. The male tarantula has to hold her fangs while doing the palp thing and then high tail it away after so he isn't her post coital dinner.
posted by nickyskye at 1:08 PM on July 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Sadly I suspect the female here is an ex-spider.
posted by gubo at 1:25 PM on July 27, 2007

that is awesome. those stalks are out of control!
posted by Busithoth at 2:17 PM on July 27, 2007

They should hire jumping spiders to perform the new Autechre album.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:02 PM on July 27, 2007

... jumping spider beats

Paradiddle?
posted by bwg at 4:49 PM on July 27, 2007

Jumpers seem surprisingly social. I think it's simply that on their scale, they're faster and stronger than anything else, and they're really quite fearless. We used to have one that patrolled the bedroom and upper hall in our old house, catching mosquitoes and gnats. About a 1/4" long, and black with a little white dot on its abdomen (after a little searching, found out it's Phidippus audax - who knew they killed brown recluses?).

It mistakenly jumped onto my wife's shoulder one evening. She shrieked, and the spider LEAPT back onto the wall, scurried up about a foot above her head, and stopped, looking back. I know it has a very small brain indeed, but I can only describe its body language as quite abashed and apologetic.

Saw my first jumper today since I moved to California. You can't miss that windup-toy speed they move at and the incredibly fast jumps. I've actually quite missed them.
posted by pemungkah at 5:26 PM on July 27, 2007 [4 favorites]

Play that funky music spider boy.
posted by Joeforking at 5:33 PM on July 27, 2007

Chicks dig drummers.

"Thank you Chicago! GOOD NIGHT!!!"
posted by LordSludge at 8:11 PM on July 27, 2007

Drumroll please....

or

1. Drumroll.
2. Please.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:17 PM on July 27, 2007

The male tarantula has to hold her fangs while doing the palp thing and then high tail it away after so he isn't her post coital dinner.

That's nothing, try talking and cuddling.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:40 AM on July 28, 2007

That's nothing, try talking and cuddling.

That's funny. :)

You and Harry (when Harry Met Sally).
posted by nickyskye at 6:15 PM on July 28, 2007

That's a great video. Thanks for sharing that, lazaruslong.

For the record;

1. Spiders are neat.

2. Jumping spiders are FREAKING AWESOMEZ OMG!!!!!!!!!ELEVENTYONE!!!!!!
posted by lekvar at 11:53 PM on July 28, 2007

Cool, glad to see spider begging for nookie foreplay.
posted by BrotherCaine at 6:28 AM on July 29, 2007

Interesting to note that in Hong Kong, jumping spider species have more than doubled since 2000, from 35 to 77.

We got lots and lots.
posted by bwg at 4:01 AM on August 1, 2007