SPIDER SIGHT

[Larry Loos]

sight ability

Feet?..cute. Appendages perhaps. Feet?..no. I get your point.

[Portman CS]

THE LAST WORD?

Since I started the topic, it may seem prudent to finish it with a response to the last point. If spiders almost entirely rely on the sensation through their feet, why do they have eyes then...eight of them at that in a tarantulas case?

Anyway folks, thank you for the input - very interesting. I do appreciate your time.
Carl

[Ray Hale]

For Michael T. I have put this back up.

Ray

[Steve_Nunn]

Hi Carl,
It does greatly depend on genus, in many araneomorphs, such as Portia fimbriata (among many other Salticidae or jumping spiders)and the Net Casting spider (among other families such as the Lycosids, who have polarised vision) which has night vision better then cats and most owls. P.fimbriata has the second best vision of any known animal (Raven 2000: Wildlife of Tropical North Queensland, Qld Mus. pub).

These spiders greatly rely on their vision for various aspects of their lives. There are published scientific works on theraphosid vision (who's eyes are classed as "simple"), such as:

Dahl, R. D. and A. M. Granda . 1989 . Spectral sensitivities of photoreceptor in the ocelli of the tarantula, Aphonopelma chalcodes (Araneae, Theraphosidae) . J .Arachnol ., 1 :195-205

http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v17_n2/JoA_v17_p195.pdf

Hope some of this helps
Steve

[Carl Portman]

Hi Carl,
It does greatly depend on genus, in many araneomorphs, such as Portia fimbriata (among many other Salticidae or jumping spiders)and the Net Casting spider (among other families such as the Lycosids, who have polarised vision) which has night vision better then cats and most owls. P.fimbriata has the second best vision of any known animal (Raven 2000: Wildlife of Tropical North Queensland, Qld Mus. pub).

These spiders greatly rely on their vision for various aspects of their lives. There are published scientific works on theraphosid vision (who's eyes are classed as "simple"), such as:

Dahl, R. D. and A. M. Granda . 1989 . Spectral sensitivities of photoreceptor in the ocelli of the tarantula, Aphonopelma chalcodes (Araneae, Theraphosidae) . J .Arachnol ., 1 :195-205

http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v17_n2/JoA_v17_p195.pdf

Hope some of this helps
Steve

Thank you Steve, it does help. I see from Foelix's Biology of Spiders that Portia has excellent eyesight. Fascinating fact about P fimbriata. Best wishes, Carl