Evarcha culicivora is a species of jumping spider (family Salticidae) found only around Lake Victoria in Kenya and Uganda.

[3] E. culicivora has an association with the introduced Lantana camara and the native Ricinus communis plants.

This behavioral characteristic differs from other jumping spiders, where the majority of males show preference and pursue females.

Adult males have blood-red faces and white-hair patches above the principal eyes and at the side of the clypeus and on palp tibia.

Evarcha is widespread, ranging from the Palaearctic, Africa and Southern Asia to the middle Pacific area, with a few species from America and Australia.

Nests are built within closed spaces such as tree trunks or walls of buildings and are often made of dead foliage such as leaves.

The nests are built from dead, rolled-up leaves and some grass, which form an enclosed space in the spider webs.

As of 2015, E. culicivora is one of only two spiders that have been experimentally studied and considered a mosquito specialist, the other being Paracyrba wanlessi.

The term mosquito specialization refers to the adaptation and use of characteristics of the living being that explain its desire to target a specific type of prey.

The prey-choice behavior of E. culicivora is innate, and they can make highly specific prey identifications by sight or odor alone.

[6] This preference was not absolute, as starved or significantly more hungry spiders were less discriminating and would consume whatever prey they were presented.

Additionally, these spiders are able to detect and pounce on their prey correctly even without scents because of their strong ability to distinguish between visual cues through the receptor system in the eyes.

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.

They approach the prey slowly and directly with their bodies lowered, then they pause when close and jump onto the mosquito.

Smaller juvenile spiders have adopted an Anopheles-specific prey-capture behavior, using the posture of Anopheles mosquitoes as a primary cue to identify them.

Regardless of the approach, both juvenile and adults had similar success rates of capturing and consuming Anopheles mosquitoes.

[1] 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.

Therefore, to ensure reproductive success, Evarcha culicivora has evolved a mate choice strategy.

Virgin males and females are willing to take risks by choosing the opposite sex individual with larger body size.

[13] Sexual cannibalism in E. culicivora mainly happens when two individuals have different body lengths and normally the bigger one is the predator.

In E. culicivora specifically, the initiation of male-female interactions vary by gender, as it is not always the male pursuing the female.

The second courtship pattern occurs when they are present at a nest and the males make use of silk-borne signals.

Throughout their reproductive life, Eulicivora culicivora has been demonstrated to retain a variety of highly variable display behaviors that are used differently depending on courtship.

[2] When E. culicivora is within its normal habitat, this spider has been shown to associate frequently with the native plants Lantana camara and Ricinus communis.

[4] The jumping spiders (family Salticidae) are vision-proficient and have outstanding spatial acuity due to their complex eyes.

The red face is not essential for E. culicivora to be able to identify the individual is a rival conspecific male, but rather, is important for them to decide what to do.

[15] In general, jumping spiders are able to see with a high level of spatial resolution that is incomparable to any other species similar to it in size.

The spider distinguishes its potential prey based on angles and abstract concepts rather than a more holistic detection approach like posture.

[3] Malaria is the world's most important insect-borne threat to public health, causing more than one million deaths per year.

Human odor, especially worn socks, is salient to malaria vectors and also to adults and juveniles of E. culicivora.