juveniles than adults. Lantana camara (family Verbenaceae) and Ricinus communis (family Euphorbiaceae) are two common plant species in the region where E. culicivora resides. E. culicivora feeds on the nectar from these two plants by pressing its chelicerae into L. camara flowers, or into the extra-floral nectaries of R. communis. The odor of these two plants have been shown to be salient to E. culicivora. See the Plant relationship section for more information on the spider-plant relationship. Webs E. culicivora is a jumping spider. Jumping spiders are hunters, who have little use for webs. They actively hunt their prey, and therefore do not build a web to capture prey. Instead, they make silk nests or shelters under leaves. Their nests are built for protection and mating. See the Home range and territoriality section for more information on their nests. Hunting behavior Prey capture technique Larger individuals of E. culicivora typically orient themselves towards the mosquito, regardless of the mosquito's posture. They then adopt the typical pre-capture behavior of salticids. They approach the prey slowly and directly with their bodies lowered, then they pause when close and jump onto the mosquito. However, not all E. culicivora are able to follow this tactic successfully. Smaller juvenile spiders have adopted an Anopheles-specific prey-capture behavior, using the posture of Anopheles mosquitoes as a primary cue to identify them. Anopheles has a distinctive resting posture with its abdomen angled up. In this case, the spider takes a detour and approaches from behind the mosquito and under its abdomen, and then attacks from below. Attacking from underneath minimizes the risk of juveniles being thrown off by the mosquito in flight as they can hold on to the mosquito from underneath. Regardless of the approach, both juvenile and adults had similar success rates of capturing and consuming Anopheles mosquitoes. Adaptive timing E. culicivora has been observed to time its predation to the early morning hours since this is when Anopheles mosquitoes are resting after their nighttime feeding to digest the blood they obtained. In the morning when they are most responsive, they are more deliberate in prey choice and they distinguish between prey odors corresponding to living and visible prey and false lures from dead prey. These spiders are less inclined to pursue prey odors in the afternoon since their preferred mosquito prey are not as vulnerable during that time period. This variation in diet pattern does