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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Spiders Fluoresce Variably Across Many Taxa, Kindra Andrews, Scott M. Reed, Susan E. Masta
Spiders Fluoresce Variably Across Many Taxa, Kindra Andrews, Scott M. Reed, Susan E. Masta
Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations
The evolution of fluorescence is largely unexplored, despite the newfound occurrence of this phenomenon in a variety of organisms. We document that spiders fluoresce under ultraviolet illumination, and find that the expression of this trait varies greatly among taxa in this species-rich group. All spiders we examined possess fluorophores in their haemolymph, but bright fluorescence appears to result when a spider sequesters fluorophores in its setae or cuticle. By sampling widely across spider taxa, we determine that fluorescent expression is labile and has evolved multiple times. Moreover, examination of the excitation and emission properties of extracted fluorophores reveals that spiders …