Bronze Jumping Spider

Eris militaris · Order: Araneae · Family: Salticidae

Also called: Bronze Lake Jumper, bronze jumper

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Bronze Jumping Spider
Photo: unknown, CC0

Adult males are 4.7 to 6.7 mm long and females 6 to 8 mm long. Males have a dark front body with white side bands, while females have a lighter front and a darker abdomen with white spots. They live in the United States and Canada, in both suburban and rural areas, including apple orchards where insecticides may be used.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Females show a lighter cephalothorax and a darker abdomen with white spots. Males have a lighter abdomen, a darker cephalothorax, and white bands along the sides.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Males range from 4.7 to 6.7 mm, females from 6 to 8 mm in length.

Source: Wikipedia

Is it a pest in the house?

Can hide in dense vegetation like blackberry bushes where leaves overlap. During autumn and winter they seek shelter in vegetation.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

Found throughout the United States and Canada in suburban and rural settings. Also occurs in apple orchards, where insecticides may be present.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Active during autumn and winter. Often found in groups from autumn through winter.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range includes the United States and Canada.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 49 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Washington.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Questions people ask

What do they eat?

They hunt small insects such as grasshoppers, moths, flies, and other spiders.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Salticidae)

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_militaris

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.