Green Jumping (Mopsus mormon)
One of the largest and most striking jumping spiders in Australia. The green jumping spider hunts by sight among garden foliage, jumps on its prey instead of trapping it, and builds a silk nest inside a folded leaf. Males wear a red face and a pair of long white whiskers that look painted on.
By Dr. James WatuwaPublished July 28, 2019Updated September 13, 2026✓ Reviewed by Dr Richard J. Pearce (PhD)
In this guide
Physical description and identification
The green jumping spider is unmistakable once you have seen one. It is big for a jumping spider, brightly green, active in daylight and entirely unbothered by being watched — it will usually turn and stare back. Mopsus mormon is the only species in its genus, so there is no closely similar relative to confuse it with anywhere in its range.
Adults
- Size: females reach roughly 16–18 mm (about 0.7 in) in body length and males about 12–15 mm, which puts the species among the largest salticids in Australia. Even a juvenile is noticeably bigger than the jumpers most people find on a windowsill.
- Colour: the sexes look quite different. Females are light green, with two dark stripes running down the abdomen, white patches around the eyes and a brownish-red and white pattern across the front of the carapace that reads as a mask. Males are darker green with a distinctly red head and a mixed green, black and white abdomen.
- Eyes: eight eyes in the standard salticid four-row plan, with two enormous anterior median eyes facing straight ahead. These are tubular eyes with a layered retina that internal muscles swing from side to side, giving the sharpest vision of any animal this size and the ability to judge distance before a jump. See our guide to spider eyes.
- Distinctive features: the male's whiskers. Long white hairs project from each side of the face, framed by black hairs, and they are used in courtship display. Females have no whiskers; instead the red and white face pattern serves the same signalling purpose.
Eggs and egg sac
The female builds a silk nest inside a leaf that has been folded or curled and bound with silk, and lays her eggs in a sac within it. She stays in the nest guarding the eggs and does not leave to hunt while the clutch is developing, which is why occupied nests are often found with the female still inside.
Spiderlings
Hatchlings are pale green miniatures of the adults, already equipped with the full eye arrangement. They remain in the mother's nest through their first moult, then disperse to build small nests of their own on nearby foliage. Growth to maturity takes a series of moults, each performed inside a sealed silk chamber where the soft new spider is safe until it hardens; see spider moulting.
Hunting, not a web
This spider builds no capture web. It walks over leaves, stops, swivels to bring a moving insect into the field of the front eyes, creeps within range and leaps. The jump is hydraulic rather than muscular: spiders have no extensor muscles in the key leg joints and straighten their legs by a sudden rise in internal fluid pressure, which is why so small an animal can cross several body lengths from a standing start. A silk dragline is anchored before each leap, so a miss leaves the spider hanging rather than falling.
Silk still matters enormously. The nest is a tough, sealed sac of white silk between bound leaves, used for resting, moulting, egg-laying and shelter from rain, and it often has more than one chamber. Nests with two occupants are regularly found: a mature male will move in alongside a not-yet-mature female and wait for her final moult. See spider webs for how this differs from a snare.
Where the green jumping spider lives
Mopsus mormon is found across northern and eastern Australia and in New Guinea. In Australia it ranges from the Top End of the Northern Territory through Queensland and down the coast into northern New South Wales, thinning out as the climate becomes cooler and drier to the south. It is a warm-climate species and is absent from the southern states.
The habitat is foliage. It lives on the leaves of shrubs, small trees, vines and tall grasses, in rainforest margins, open woodland, mangrove edges, plantations, parks and suburban gardens. Broad-leaved plants such as bananas, palms and gingers are favourites because a large leaf is easy to fold into a nest. It is a daytime animal that likes sunlit surfaces, and gardeners in tropical Australia notice it constantly — not because it comes indoors, which it does not, but because it is large, green and inclined to look at you.
Are green jumping spiders venomous?
Yes, in the same way virtually every spider is: Mopsus mormon injects venom to kill the insects it catches. The venom is not medically significant to people or pets. Jumping spiders are araneomorph spiders with small fangs and insect-adapted venom; they are unrelated to the widow spiders, the recluses and the Australian funnel-webs, and none of them carries the vertebrate-specific toxins that make those groups dangerous. No antivenom exists for any jumping spider because none is needed.
Can green jumping spiders bite?
They can, and because this is a large salticid the bite is more noticeable than a small jumper's — but it is not dangerous. A bite happens only when the spider is squeezed, trapped in clothing or grabbed; it is a defensive last resort, not aggression. The usual result is a sharp local pinch with mild swelling and redness that settles within a day. Wash the area with soap and water and use a cold pack if it is sore. Seek medical advice only if swelling spreads well beyond the bite or the site shows signs of infection over the following days.
A green spider in an Australian garden is not a danger sign. The green jumping spider watches you, moves in short hops and carries two large eyes at the front of a squared-off head. A spider that sits motionless in the middle of a spiral web, or one that rears up from a burrow in the ground, is something else entirely — and only the burrow-dweller is a medical concern.
Ecological importance and behavior of the green jumping spider
The green jumping spider is a diurnal ambush hunter of foliage. It takes flies, moths, bugs, beetles, grasshopper nymphs, caterpillars and other spiders, and its size lets it tackle prey as large as itself. In gardens and plantations that makes it a genuinely useful predator of leaf-feeding insects, working the same surfaces where those pests feed.
Natural predators: insectivorous birds and lizards take adults by day, mantises and larger spiders take them opportunistically, and spider-hunting wasps paralyse them to stock nest cells with live food. Ants are a constant threat to nests and spiderlings.
Prey–predator dynamics: because it hunts by sight in the open rather than waiting in a snare, it catches active, alert insects that rarely blunder into a web. It occupies a different feeding layer from the orb weavers slung between the same shrubs, and the two coexist without competing directly.
Courtship and nesting: males court visually, waving the front legs and displaying the white whiskers and red face directly in front of the female's large eyes. A male often moves into a nest beside a female that has not yet had her final moult and guards her until she matures, which is why two spiders are sometimes found in one multi-chambered nest. The behaviour is mate guarding rather than a shared household.
Relationship with humans: welcome. It is harmless, does not colonise houses, and eats garden pests. If one appears on a leaf near a doorway the right response is to leave it alone.
Similar spiders and how to tell them apart
| Spider | How it differs from the green jumping spider |
|---|---|
| Red-back jumping spider (Phidippus johnsoni) | A North American salticid of similar size and boldness, but black with a red abdomen and no green anywhere. No overlap in range. |
| Peacock spiders (Maratus) | Also Australian and also famous for display, but tiny — a few millimetres — with a fan-like abdominal flap the male raises during courtship. |
| Fringed jumping spider (Portia fimbriata) | Shares the north Queensland rainforest, but is dull brown, shaggy and slow, spins its own web and specialises in eating other spiders. |
| Hyllus diardi | An equally large jumping spider from tropical Asia, but grey-white and thickset rather than green. |
| Green lynx spider and green crab spiders | Other green foliage spiders, but with long spiny legs or crab-like sideways legs, small eyes in two rows, and they wait for prey instead of stalking it. |
Quick facts
| Other names | Northern green jumping spider. |
|---|---|
| Distribution | Northern and eastern Australia — the Top End, Queensland and northern New South Wales — and New Guinea. |
| Habitat | Foliage of shrubs, small trees, vines and broad-leaved plants in gardens, woodland, rainforest edges and plantations. |
| Diet | Flies, moths, bugs, beetles, grasshopper nymphs, caterpillars and other spiders. |
| Nest | A sealed silk sac inside a folded or curled leaf, often with more than one chamber. |
| Predators | Birds, lizards, mantises, spider-hunting wasps, ants and larger spiders. |
| Web | No prey-catching web. Silk is used for draglines, nests and the egg sac. |
| IUCN status | Not evaluated. |
Did you know?
- Mopsus is a monotypic genus: Mopsus mormon is the only species in it, described by the German arachnologist Ferdinand Karsch in 1878.
- The male's white whiskers are display equipment. Framed by black hairs and worn directly beneath the eyes, they are aimed at the female's outstanding vision during courtship — a signal, not a sensory organ.
- Its eyes work like a scanner, not a camera. The retina of each big front eye is a narrow, four-layered strip that muscles sweep across the image, so the spider builds up a detailed picture of what it is looking at.
- The leap is hydraulic. With no extensor muscles in the crucial leg joints, the spider straightens its legs by pumping body fluid into them, and a dragline is fixed first as a safety line.
- Two spiders in one nest usually means a male waiting on a female's final moult, not a pair sharing a home.
- Unlike Portia, its distant relative in the same family, this species never builds a web to catch anything — silk is strictly for nests, moulting and eggs.
In summary, the green jumping spider is a large, bright, sharp-eyed daytime hunter of Australian and New Guinean foliage. It is harmless to people, useful in the garden, and one of the few spiders that will meet your gaze before it decides where to jump.
Frequently asked questions about the green jumping spider
How can you tell male and female green jumping spiders apart?
By size, colour and face. Females are larger and light green with two dark stripes down the abdomen and a red-and-white mask across the front of the carapace. Males are smaller, darker green with a red head, and carry long white whiskers framed by black hairs that females never have.
How big is an adult Mopsus mormon?
Females reach roughly 16 to 18 mm in body length and males about 12 to 15 mm, which makes this one of the largest jumping spiders in Australia. Leg span adds a good deal more, so a full-grown female is a substantial spider by salticid standards.
Are green jumping spiders venomous to humans?
They have venom for subduing insect prey, but it carries no medical significance for people or pets. Jumping spiders are unrelated to widow spiders, recluses or funnel-webs, and no species in the family requires antivenom. A bite causes local discomfort at worst.
Why would a green jumping spider bite a person?
Only in self-defence, if it is squeezed, grabbed or trapped against skin. Biting is a last resort rather than aggression. Because this is a large salticid the bite can be sharply painful with mild swelling and redness, but it settles within a day and needs no treatment beyond washing and a cold pack.
Do green jumping spiders build webs to catch prey?
No. They are active hunters that stalk insects by sight and pounce on them. They do build silk nests inside folded leaves, sealed sacs used for resting, moulting, shelter and egg-laying, and they anchor a dragline before every jump. Nothing is ever caught in silk.
Where are green jumping spiders found?
Across northern and eastern Australia — the Top End, Queensland and northern New South Wales — and in New Guinea. They live on foliage: shrubs, vines, small trees and broad-leaved plants in gardens, woodland, rainforest edges and plantations. They are absent from southern Australia.
What kind of nest does a green jumping spider build?
A tough sac of white silk inside a leaf that has been folded or curled and bound shut, often with more than one chamber. The female lays her eggs inside and guards them there without leaving to hunt, so occupied nests usually still contain the mother.
Why are two green jumping spiders sometimes in one nest?
Because a mature male will move in beside a female that has not yet had her final moult and wait for her to mature. It is mate guarding, not a shared household, and the male leaves after mating. This is the reason for reports that the multi-chambered nest holds a pair.
Is the green jumping spider the only Mopsus species?
Yes. Mopsus is a monotypic genus, meaning Mopsus mormon is the single species it contains. It was described by Ferdinand Karsch in 1878, and no close relative shares its range, which makes identification unusually straightforward.
Are green jumping spiders good for the garden?
Very. They hunt flies, moths, bugs, beetles, grasshopper nymphs and caterpillars on the same leaves where those insects feed, and they work in daylight rather than trapping insects at night. They pose no risk to people or pets and need no control of any kind.
References
- World Spider Catalog (2026). Mopsus mormon Karsch, 1878. Natural History Museum Bern. wsc.nmbe.ch/spec-data/37540/taxon
