Its habitat tends to be grasses and leafy vegetation; grassy, weedy fields, and row crops.

Eastern United States from Massachusetts and Iowa south to Florida and Texas, along Mexican border, north along Pacific coast to Oregon.

[2][additional citation(s) needed] A number of authors (Brady 1964, Laster and Brazzel 1968, McDaniel et al. 1981, Young and Lockley 1985) have noted the importance of Oxyopids as a major predator of economically important agricultural pests.

In 1961, Kayashima released 45,000 O. sertatus spiders into a Cryptomeria forest in Japan (in a test plot) and noted a 53% reduction in damage by the gall midge Contarinia inouyei.

[4] However, some studies note that O. salticus (and other Oxyopids) also prey on beneficial insects (e.g., bees and other pollinators), so their importance in pest control is somewhat questioned.