KOCHI,
Researchers at the Division of Arachnology in Sacred Heart College here
have recorded the sighting of a huntsman and jumping spider in the
Western Ghats.
The spiders belong to the Sparassidae and Salticidae
families. The research team included Dr. Mathew M.J., Fr. Jobi Malamel
and Pradeep Kumar M.S. and were led by Dr. P.A. Sebastian, director of
the Division of Arachnology.
The huntsman spider was sighted at Ponmudi, while the researchers found
the jumping spider at the Malayattoor and Bhoothathankettu reserve
forest near here.
“Huntsman spiders are known for their speed and mode of hunting.
Sometimes they hide in the ambush and surprise the prey. Some of these
spiders have been found making a substrate-borne sound deliberately when
they detect a chemical left by a nearby female of their species,” said
the researchers.
They said that the males anchor themselves firmly to the surface to
which they have crawled and use their legs to transmit vibrations from
their bodies to the surface. The characteristic frequency of vibration
and the pattern of bursts of sound alert the females, who will approach
if they are interested in mating, they said.
Dr. Sebastian said that jumping spiders prey like a grasshopper, as it jumps from one place to another.
It has been given the name Stenaelurillus albus owing to the
presence of a unique whitish area on the copulatory organ of the male
spider. The discovery is unique as it has the presence of mating plugs
that have been reported in only 17 species of the approximate 5,800
jumping spiders recorded till now, he said.
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