Outside Europe, they are present in North Africa, the Near East, Turkey, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, China, Mongolia and Korea.

The sexes differ extremely Sexual dimorphism: males are very colorful with a glaringly red opisthosoma (chrysops means "golden eye" in Greek).

The males have a dark brown or blackish cephalothorax, usually with two broad longitudinal white stripes behind the rear eyes.

Philaeus chrysops hunts freely, quickly jumping on prey and blocking it with claws and pedipalps.

[2] When the adult male has found a female, it will start a courtship, shaking forelegs in the air and drumming on the ground with the abdomen and pedipalps.