The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Vision in the nocturnal wandering spider Leucorchestris arenicola (Araneae : Sparassidae)

På svenska

Author

  • Thomas Norgaard
  • Dan-E Nilsson
  • Joh R Henschel
  • Anders Garm
  • Rüdiger Wehner

Summary, in English

At night the Namib Desert spider Leucorchestris arenicola performs long-distance homing across its sand dune habitat. By disabling all or pairs of the spiders' eight eyes we found that homing ability was severely reduced when vision was fully abolished. Vision, therefore, seems to play a key role in the nocturnal navigational performances of L. arenicola. After excluding two or three pairs of eyes, the spiders were found to be able to navigate successfully using only their lateral eyes or only their anterior median eyes. Measurement of the eyes' visual fields showed that the secondary eyes combined have a near full (panoramic) view of the surroundings. The visual fields of the principal eyes overlap almost completely with those of the anterior lateral eyes. Electroretinogram recordings indicate that each eye type contains a single photopigment with sensitivity peaking at similar to 525 nm in the posterior and anteriomedian eyes, and at similar to 540 nm in the anteriolateral eyes. Theoretical calculations of photon catches showed that the eyes are likely to employ a combination of spatial and temporal pooling in order to function at night. Under starlit conditions, the raw spatial and temporal resolution of the eyes is insufficient for detecting any visual information on structures in the landscape, and bright stars would be the only objects visible to the spiders. However, by summation in space and time, the spiders can rescue enough vision to detect coarse landscape structures. We show that L. arenicola spiders are likely to be using temporal summation to navigate at night.

Publishing year

2008

Language

English

Pages

816-823

Publication/Series

Journal of Experimental Biology

Volume

211

Issue

5

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

The Company of Biologists Ltd

Topic

  • Zoology

Keywords

  • temporal summation
  • sensitivity
  • spectral
  • electroretinogram
  • nocturnal navigation
  • visual field
  • spider navigation

Status

Published

Research group

  • Lund Vision Group

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1477-9145