New Species of Spider Builds Spider Decoys in Web

[AbraxasComplex]

ARTICLE HERE

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

This is awesome!

 

[MarkmD]

Pretty cool for a defense mechanism.

 

[VictorHernandez]

Yeah, that's really cool!

 

[Storm76]

If it is true, that would be really neat.

 

[Travis K]

Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting behavior.

 

[Citrine]

That's one super creative spider!

 

[jecraque]

Huh. That is neat, and it might even shed some light on the great stabilimentum debate. It would be really tough to test whether predators are fooled (or frightened) by these things--which I guess is part of why stabilimenta are so hotly argued-over.

Interesting that it's a Cyclosa sp. I'll be looking forward to hearing more on this as collecting is done.

 

[Ciphor]

Huh. That is neat, and it might even shed some light on the great stabilimentum debate. It would be really tough to test whether predators are fooled (or frightened) by these things--which I guess is part of why stabilimenta are so hotly argued-over.

Interesting that it's a Cyclosa sp. I'll be looking forward to hearing more on this as collecting is done.

We have Cyclosa spp. here in WA. I see them for a few weeks in the summer down by the river. Their webs get cluttered with cotton seed, that they move to the center of their web in a line.

As for stabilimentum, they have done a lot of research around it, and most agree it is to protect their web from getting hit and wrecked. Argiope whose webs were not destroyed, made far less to no stabilimentum. The spiders whose webs were destroyed made very visible stabilimentum.

Cyclosas reason for creating shapes with debris is to defend from wasps and birds.

 

[jecraque]

Yeah, I read those papers too
I'm reserving judgment, myself. I was trained by someone who was very much against the idea that stabilimentum protect the web or serve as a warning to flying creatures. There are a number of professionals on the UV-light-reflecting side of the fence.

With our native Cyclosa spp. it is pretty obviously visual camouflage, but these weird shapes seem outside the realm of that and more like some of the wilder shapes that can be made through stabilimenta. Like I said, I'd be interested to hear more once this work is past the taking-photos-for-funsies phase and some collections/observations have been done.

 

[Gilberator]

New spider found in amazon?

Hey everyone!

So my buddy shared something with me that seems truly fascinating! Apparently a new species of spider was found in the amazon that creates a large spider-looking decoy out of debris and tugs at it like a puppeteer! Check this out!
[video]http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/01/video-spider-building-spider/[/video]

 

[Introvertebrate]

It took some digging to find the logic behind it, but here it is: "Studies have found that some Cyclosa species have a higher survival rate against potential predators like paper wasps because the wasps end up attacking the debris (i.e. decoy) in the web rather than the spider itself." I would add that the paper wasp might then become entangled in the web and actually become the spiders prey.

 

[Gilberator]

This is really interesting! Thanks for the post!

 

[Ciphor]

The video is awesome, thanks for sharing it!