The spiders of this family are mainly found in the tropics and subtropics. Characteristic are the long conspicuous spines on their legs. Despite the relatively small eyes, they have good eyesight and can spot a potential prey from 10 cm and less. They occur in low vegetation where they run around, but where they can also jump from a fixed position on their prey, just like the Salticidae (Jumping Spiders). Ten species occur in Europe within two genera.
Genus Oxyopes
Oxyopes is the main predator of insects on plants. They jump on them from a small distance or even take them right out of the air. Because they are yellowish to grey coloured, they are less noticeable in their habitat of low vegetation and grass. In July the females make their rather flat egg sacs and secure these at a relatively high position on a plant, after which they strickly monitor them.
