spider question

June 16, 2006 at 7:19 pm #5058

Participant

If I put my hand before a spider rushing across a table, the spider will usually stop, plot a new course plot a new course it hopes to be hand free, and carry on. What is the sense(s) is the spider using to get away from my hand. A visiual impression must play a role since spiders seem to do this to a lesser extent with other objects (a piece of paper for instance) but I wonder if something like smell is involved also.

Thank you.
JB

June 18, 2006 at 3:25 am #50237

Khaiy

Participant

Spiders have very fine hairs, which (I believe) pick up on even tiny shifts in air currents, which alert them to motions that occur aroudn them very quickly.

P.S. I’m glad to be back, now that my login is finally being accepted again. Hopefully I’ll be able to become a regular again.

June 20, 2006 at 4:48 pm #50327

Darby

Participant

Most spiders in this position (in the open, in the light, moving) will be depending on their eyesight, since you’re more than likely dealing with a free-roaming daylight predator. If you pulled a spider out of an orb web and put it on the table, it wouldn’t react the same way.

June 21, 2006 at 7:53 am #50353

Juan Barbaroja

Participant

quote Darby:

Most spiders in this position (in the open, in the light, moving) will be depending on their eyesight, since you’re more than likely dealing with a free-roaming daylight predator. If you pulled a spider out of an orb web and put it on the table, it wouldn’t react the same way.

Terriffic! Thanks for that! Yet now I wonder what the differences would be. Having failed to find potential candidates for experimentation, I’ve reentered my house in defeat, bearing only my flashlight. Would the nocturnal hunter crawl right over my hand or do you suppose heat and/ or vibrations as Khaiy suggests might tip her off?

Thanks,
Juan

June 26, 2006 at 10:43 am #50550

123Herpatology

Participant

haha, i’ve got a funny story that sounds like that, but my expirement gave me another conclusion. I was watching a specimen one day, and it was moving along my kitchen counter. Having done the "place the hand on the table" maneuver before , i assumed he would act accordingly…This time however, the spider proceeded directly to my hand, placed two legs onto my finger and whammo, sunk its fangs in and took off…despite the pain, it was quote humourous.

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