How to tell jumping spider genders

When you think about it, identifying tiny jumping spider genders seems impossible. You probably think you should give up before you even try (how do you even do it?!)…

But it’s not impossible.

Let’s first focus on the females:

​A female is going to be slightly larger than the males, and will also have straighter pedipalps (circled in red).

But it can still just be a guess if that’s all you’re going by. In order to be 100% sure you’re handling a female jumping spider, you’re going to have to get a little bit closer. The next time your jumping spider is on the side of its clear plastic home, take a quick picture and zoom in. If you see a clear circle on the spider’s upper abdomen, you can be sure it’s a female.

Now onto the males:

There are only a couple things to go by when identifying a male jumping spider. First of all, they are slightly smaller than females, but perhaps the most noticeable thing about them, is their pedipalps.

Male jumping spiders have pedipalps that get larger at the end (almost like thick commas). Once you’ve identified that, you’ll know without a doubt what gender you’re little spider is!