QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by WALCOTT, C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by WALCOTT, C.

Journal of Experimental Biology 40,595-611 (1963)
Published by Company of Biologists 1963

The Effect of the Web on Vibration Sensitivity in the Spider, Achaearanea Tepidariorum (KOCH)

CHARLES WALCOTT ¹

¹ Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts

1. The contribution of the web to vibration sensitivity in the spider Achaearanea tepidariorum (Koch) has been examined. A single strand of web transmits vibration with an attenuation of about 1.2 db./cm. of silk.

2. The electrical activity of a spider leg, the tip of which was attached to a web strand, revealed no tuning in response to vibration transmitted via the web, whereas the response to air-borne sound was still tuned.

3. The behaviour of spiders toward different insects snared in their webs revealed no differences in the spider's initial response to the different insects, although the sound and vibration caused by the insects were clearly different.

4. These results suggest that the spider can derive more information from the air-borne sound than it can from vibration through its web, but what use the spider makes of its sensitivity to air-borne sound is still unclear.

Note:

These studies were aided by contract DA 19-129-QM-1428, with the Quartermaster Corps, U.S. Army, and by contract Nonr 1866(46) (NR 301-714) between the Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy, and Harvard College.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				W. M. MASTERS and H. MARKL Vibration Signal Transmission in Spider Orb Webs Science, July 17, 1981; 213(4505): 363 - 365. [Abstract] [PDF]