 The genus Portia has been called " Eight @-@ legged Cats " , as their hunting tactics are as versatile and adaptable as a lion 's . All members of Portia have instinctive hunting tactics for their most common prey , but often can improvise by trial and error against unfamiliar prey or in unfamiliar situations , and then remember the new approach . While most jumping spiders prey mainly on insects and by active hunting , females of Portia also build webs to catch prey directly and sometimes join their own webs on to those of web @-@ based spiders . Both females and males prefer web spiders as prey , followed by other jumping spiders , and finally insects . In all cases females are more effective predators than males . 
