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The Evarcha culicivora is salticidae, more commonly known as a jumping spider. They are primarily found around Lake Victoria in East Africa, specifically in Uganda and Kenya. The E. Culicivora spiders have an average size of 5 mm at maturity for both males and females.The range in size is for either sex is quite small, with females only being slightly larger on average than males (4-7mm compared to 3-6mm). . E. Culicivora is unique in that it has a highly specialized diet primarily consisting of indirectly desiring blood of vertebrates. It does this by predating on blood carrying female Anopheles mosquitoes. This mosquito is responsible for transmitting Malaria and other vector borne diseases to humans. Experimentally, these spiders are considered anopheles mosquito specialists. Evarcha culicivora has an interesting association with the native plants Lantana camara  and Ricinus communis. They consume the nectar for food and preferentially use these plants as a location for courtship.

The mating interactions of E. Culicivora are also species specific. Their mating interactions follow mutual mate choice. In other words, both males  and females have preferences for partners, and perform displays. These preferences vary with gender and age. This differs within other jumping spiders, where the majority of males show preference and pursue females.

Description
As juveniles, E. Culicivoras are grey-brown within their bodies and face. However, as an adult the male spiders develop distinct blood-red faces with patches of white hair around it. The female E. culicivora remains grey-brown and develop only slight red facial tint. In normal posture, the E. culicivora body is parallel and approximately .5-1mm above ground. They stand with their legs mostly flexed at joints and their palp hanging loose in front of them. .These spiders have eight eyes, with two principal eyes that are used for the majority of tasks.

Habitat
These spiders are located by Lake Victoria in Uganda and Kenya.This area is full of a variety insect life with an incredible amount of chaoboridae midges.These lake flies are similar in size and look to the Anopheles mosquito, but the E. culicivora disregard their presence as well as the majority of all other insects present. When hunting, these spiders prefer to stay close to the ground and hide within vegetation and potentially even in human infrastructure. The E. culicivora builds nests for where it primarily resides. Nests are built within closed spaces such as tree trunks or walls of buildings and are often made of dead foliage such as leaves.

Diet
The E. culicivora is (As of 2015) one of only two spiders that have been experimentally studied and considered a mosquito specialist, the other being Paracord wanlessi. Interestingly, these spiders go about this specialization in different ways. The term mosquito specialization refers to the adaptation and use of characteristics of the living being that explain its desire to target a specific type of prey. In their case, their impeccable visual abilities. As mentioned earlier, this spider prefers female anopheles mosquitoes, but this is solely because they desire to consume vertebrae blood. During the experiment, it was found that when presented with a blood carrying mosquito, regardless of species and one that was not ( i.e. a male) adult E. Culicivora consumed the blood carrying one. The specific desire for Anopheles mosquitoes was supported when presented with two blood carrying mosquitos of different species, the anopheles was consumed by both adults and juveniles. Interestingly, juveniles would choose the anopheles over all other prey regardless if it actually was carrying blood. This preference was not absolute of course, as starved or significantly more hungry spiders were less picky and would consume whatever they were presented. Researchers have also found that these spiders consume the nectar of both the L. camara and the R. communis.

Cannibalism
Cannibalism been observed within this species, and most commonly occurred between male-female interactions outside of a nest. This is called preliminary cannibalism. The female attempts to flee and the male leaps and consumes. This was most apparent when there was a large size discrepancy between the 2 genders.

Webs
E. Culicivora is a jumping spider, which means it actively hunts its prey, and therefore do not build a web to capture prey. There is recognition of these spiders building nests, but research indicated that the nests were built for protection and mating.

Prey Tactics
The prey tactics of the Evarcha culicivora is similar to the typical prey-capture routine that many other saliticase follow. Initially, the spider approaches slowly but is purposeful with its movement. It then drops its body as it pauses, creating a dragline, quickly capturing their target. However, not all E. Culicivora are able to follow this tactic successfully, and researchers have found that smaller juvenile spiders have developed an innate and uniquely prey-capture behavior to capture the Anopheles. In this case, the spider would take more detours and would approach from behind walking under the Anopheles and lunging to attack from below. Regardless of the approach however, both juvenile and adults had similar success rates of capturing and consuming the Anopheles mosquito.

Male-Female Interactions
Mate choice In the E. culicivora species specifically the initiation of male-females interactions varied by gender (ie it is not the male pursuing the female). . This is unique even within the genus of Salticidae. Researchers determined that both male and female spiders actively participate when looking for a partner. Both genders make vision-based determinations when considering if they want to choose a mate. Although these spiders have superb vision, they do not base their decision to mate solely on visual cues, but olfactory signals as well. This is called odor-based sex discrimination. Experimental studies have found that virgin males desired to remain within the vicinity of the female’s scent they mated with, whereas females showed no such preference. Virgins of either gender prefer to mate with larger mates. However, this desire for larger mates only remained with males for subsequent mating periods. The researchers suggested that females lost this preference because the danger of them being cannibalised by their partner was higher if their mate was larger and experienced.

Courtship
Researchers experimentally determined that this spider has 2 courtship patterns they follow. The choice courtship of E. Culicivora depends on both location and female maturity. The first general courtship is the spider's use of visual cues and displays to attract one another when they are outside the nest. The second courtship pattern occurs when they are present at a nest and the males make use of silk-born signals. Within the second type of courtship, researchers observed cohabiting of the males with subadult females. This cohabiting involves the males hanging around and within a females nests, only after the same initial male-female interactions.These can last anywhere from 1-10 days and end successfully when the female has molted and they copulate. Throughout their reproductive life, the E. Culicivora has been demonstrated to retain a variety of highly variable display behaviors that are used differently depending on courtship.

Plant Relationship
When the E. culicivora is within its normal habitat, this spider has been shown to associate frequently with the native plants L. Camara  and  R. Communis. They are attracted to these plants by their odor. Studies indicate that the E. Culicivora actually consumes the nectar from these plants as meals and can be seen from testing for presence of fructose in these spiders. Adult spiders also tested positive for fructose after consumption of mosquitoes alone, demonstrating that this fructose is a significant component of their diet, and that they can receive it indirectly. Experimentally, this attainment of fructose comes primarily from the consumption of nectar off of these plants. Interestingly, juvenile E. Culicivora tested positive more frequently than the older spiders and the study had mentioned potential explanations for this, but indicated that further research is needed to confirm the reason. The consumption of this nectar is often understood as a meal substitute, usually when prey is scarce.These younger spiders might benefit more simply because the amount of nectar obtained from these plants may be sufficient for the smaller individuals but not for the larger spiders i.e. it may be more suited as a meal substitute for juveniles than adults). The definite reasoning and benefits behind the use of both the plants is still not definitively known.

Locomotion
The E. Culicivora’s locomotion can be described as quick stop and go motions, doing both for roughly equivalent times. Researchers found that compared to other Salticidae, the E. culicivora is more calm when presented with unfamiliar situations, such as testing and experiments.

Visual Processes
Jumping spiders are considered to be some of the most visually dependent living beings on the planet. Salticidae use their eight eyes for the majority of basic tasks including, hunting, mating, escaping, etc. Their eyes are divided into two sets. One set is considered the side eyes and the other being principal eyes. There are only two principal eyes, which primarily control their vision. Researchers have extensively studied the eyes of Salticidae and found that the retinae of the principal eyes have four layers of receptors. Theories suggest this layering can be for the examination of the maximum sharpness of objects (i.e. prey). Research has found that jumping spiders also have some form of color vision, with each layer responsible for a different color sensitivity/ recognition. In general, jumping spiders are able to see with an unbelievable level of spatial resolution that is incomparable to any other species similar to it in size. This explains why jumping spiders are predators and hunter.

Human Benefits/Ecosystem Effects
Spiders, especially ones like the E. Culicivora, that primarily hunt a specific prey can have a significant effect on the population and population dynamics of insects within the habitats they reside. For this reason, researchers have been considering using spiders like the E. culicivora as a motive for the biocontrol of certain pests. E. Culicivora could be a vital way for controlling the spread of deadly viral diseases commonly spread by the Anopheles mosquito, although not much testing has been done.