- Joined
- Feb 22, 2007
- Messages
- 764
More thoughts
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that we need this article translated into English... Are there ANY German members of the board who are willing to do this for us? I tried to copy/paste the text from Adobe into an online translator, but for some reason it refused to copy. I'm guessing there's some sort of copyright protection on the document. :?
I'm certain this is a genuine albino-like effect, but because I can't understand the document, I can't pull out any useful information from it. I am guessing that the original spider is still in tact, and no dissection has been done. As I alluded to earlier, there doesn't seem to be any diffractive patterns on the back of the species in question (it was all black as an adult in the picture I googled up), so I doubt it will get any diffractive colour later in life.
As far as two spiderlings from the same sac, they are siblings, or 1/2 siblings. That means that they share DNA and a genetic heritage. Albinos can be breed into a lineage of albinos (think mice) and can also arise independently as a mutation. Given the sheer number of offspring which arise from Tarantulas, it is surprising that these types of random mutations don't come up more often: more kids equals more rolls of the random mutation dice - equals higher chances of seeing them every now and again. Also, I know pigment malfunctions arise in mammals as a physical deformity (one green/one brown eye, for example), and I guess something similar could happen in a spider. :?
If I was the person who discovered this, I'd be inbreeding that set of spiderlings, and keeping very close notes. Most albino mutations are recessive, meaning that little white guy needs two malfunctioning genes to get that way. SO all his/her kids will get at least one bad copy of that gene, and mating them further would hopefully get a few more white guys. That would certainly tell us if there was a genetic basis to this.
It would also be interesting to see if the colour re-appeared later in life. There are several developmental changes in pigmentation, including in spiders, which may give us a clue as to the mechanisms going on here.
PhilR:
I respect Volker von Wirth deeply. It's great to know that people are analysing his text, including the amateurs out there. It's at the heart of the scientific method, and a sign of a healthy discussion, to allow everything to be open to question.
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that we need this article translated into English... Are there ANY German members of the board who are willing to do this for us? I tried to copy/paste the text from Adobe into an online translator, but for some reason it refused to copy. I'm guessing there's some sort of copyright protection on the document. :?
I'm certain this is a genuine albino-like effect, but because I can't understand the document, I can't pull out any useful information from it. I am guessing that the original spider is still in tact, and no dissection has been done. As I alluded to earlier, there doesn't seem to be any diffractive patterns on the back of the species in question (it was all black as an adult in the picture I googled up), so I doubt it will get any diffractive colour later in life.
As far as two spiderlings from the same sac, they are siblings, or 1/2 siblings. That means that they share DNA and a genetic heritage. Albinos can be breed into a lineage of albinos (think mice) and can also arise independently as a mutation. Given the sheer number of offspring which arise from Tarantulas, it is surprising that these types of random mutations don't come up more often: more kids equals more rolls of the random mutation dice - equals higher chances of seeing them every now and again. Also, I know pigment malfunctions arise in mammals as a physical deformity (one green/one brown eye, for example), and I guess something similar could happen in a spider. :?
If I was the person who discovered this, I'd be inbreeding that set of spiderlings, and keeping very close notes. Most albino mutations are recessive, meaning that little white guy needs two malfunctioning genes to get that way. SO all his/her kids will get at least one bad copy of that gene, and mating them further would hopefully get a few more white guys. That would certainly tell us if there was a genetic basis to this.
It would also be interesting to see if the colour re-appeared later in life. There are several developmental changes in pigmentation, including in spiders, which may give us a clue as to the mechanisms going on here.
PhilR:
I respect Volker von Wirth deeply. It's great to know that people are analysing his text, including the amateurs out there. It's at the heart of the scientific method, and a sign of a healthy discussion, to allow everything to be open to question.
