These jumping spiders are active during the day and like sunshine, normally living outdoors but are sometimes found indoors on walls, windows, screens, doors, etc. Two of their 8 eyes are very large on the face and eye color can be changed as needed. After mating, the female constructs a silk cocoon for her eggs and guards it. Some can bite humans. Many have horns or ornaments on the head or abdomen, and some mimic bird droppings.
Males are smaller than females and have much longer legs.
These spiders mimic the colors of the flowers upon which they rest to ambush their prey. Some alter their color to match the background. They apparently have a toxin potent to bees, flies and other insects larger than themselves. They do not make webs, but females lay their eggs in a sac and die before the eggs hatch. Both the black widow spider and northern widow spider are present in Ohio.