Jumping spiders cycle through REM-like sleep, study shows
Portia fimbriata jumping spiders experience at least two sleep stages, including a REM-like phase with eye movement and leg twitches.
Scientists recorded Australian jumping spiders sleeping and found they move through distinct sleep stages, just like humans do. The spiders groomed themselves during a quiet phase, then entered a REM-like stage complete with eye flickers and leg curls.
When researchers woke the spiders during sleep, they responded much slower than when awake, a hallmark of true sleep. Portia fimbriata sleeps upside down in a tiny web, making the behaviour easy to study.
The findings suggest sleep is far older in evolution than previously thought. If creatures with such different brains show structured sleep, the basic architecture must be ancient.
Researchers plan to study how spiders sleep in the wild, including fieldwork in northern Queensland and Western Australia.
- Portia fimbriata
- Spider species
- Northern Australia
- Geographic range
- At least two
- Sleep stage count
Why it mattersThe discovery hints that sleep evolved much earlier than we thought and serves fundamental functions across the animal kingdom.
AustraliaPortia fimbriata is found across Northern Australia, and Australian scientists from the University of Sydney contributed to the research and fieldwork.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
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