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Importance Of The Antenniform Legs, But Not Vision, For Homing By The Neotropical Whip Spider Paraphrynus Laevifrons, Verner P. Bingman, Jacob M. Graving, Eileen Hebets, Daniel D. Wiegmann

Eileen Hebets Publications

Amblypygids, or whip spiders, are nocturnal, predatory arthropods that display a robust ability to navigate to their home refuge. Prior field observations and displacement studies in amblypygids demonstrated an ability to home from distances as far away as 10 m. In the current study, micro-transmitters were used to take morning position fixes of individual Paraphrynus laevifrons following an experimental displacement of 10 m from their home refuge. The intention was to assess the relative importance of vision compared with sensory input acquired from the antenniform legs for navigation as well as other aspects of their spatial behavior. Displaced individuals were …