European Buzzing Spider

Scientific name:

Anyphaena accentuata

Anyphaena comes from from Greek which means “without web”; accentuata is from Latin “sings to others.”

Sound/voice:

Many spiders make audible sounds, but the buzzing spider is different from others. The male raises his front legs and violently taps his abdomen against the leaf beneath him, producing a high-pitched buzzing like a tuning fork on paper.

Background:

Anyphaena accentuata has the distinction of being the only member of the Anyphaenidae family found in northern Europe, but in North America, where the family has its headquarters, its relatives are quite common.

Male:

A. accentuata can generally be recognized by distinct pairs of dark marks on the abdomen

Female:

The female becomes grey in colour and loses her markings once she lays eggs.

Habitat:

Buzzing spiders are particularly adept at leaping rapidly from leaf to leaf, pouncing on insects such as small flies and leafhoppers that take their fancy.
To help them cling to the leaves and twigs of shrubs and trees, they are equipped with special tufts of hair on their claws called scopulae. The best way of finding a buzzing spider is to beat the lower branches of trees and shrubs, particularly oak trees, in early summer, although few males survive into June.

Reference: Spider-the ultimate predators
picture credit: Google images