A furry face on the wall
On a pale wall against the darker wood behind it, the spider was easy to spot: large for a jumping spider, furry, coloured in green and yellow, with what looked like a pair of antennae at the front of the head. Those are not antennae at all, of course. Spiders do not have them. The raised front legs were simply held up like feelers while the real senses did the work. It had stopped mid-wall, which counts as a good spot for a hunter that never builds a home.
This is Hyllus qishuoi, a jumping spider of the family Salticidae, order Araneae. Jumping spiders have the best eyesight of any arthropod of their size: two large forward-facing eyes give them sharp colour vision, and the rest of the eye set watches for movement all around. The two big front eyes work like miniature telescopes, and a jumping spider can track a moving fly from surprising distances. They stalk prey on foot, judge distance with care, and pounce rather than wait in a web.
Hyllus is a large genus whose members are among the biggest jumping spiders in the world, muscular little hunters with dense fur and bold patterning. The fur is not just decoration; it carries the colours and patterns used in courtship and camouflage. The green and yellow costume of this one looked almost tropical, which suited the wet forest around Medog perfectly.
As I moved, it turned its face to follow me. Being watched by a spider with such good eyes is a small, strange honour.
