ROLE OF THE ANTERIOR LATERAL EYES OF THE WOLF SPIDER LYCOSA TARENTULA (ARANEAE, LYCOSIDAE) DURING PATH INTEGRATION

Spiders of the species Lycosa tarentula (Linnaeus 1758) (Araneae, Lycosidae) use a vector navigation system while homing under natural conditions. Under laboratory conditions, in the absence of information relative to the sun's position or any pattern of polarized light, L. tarentula uses a pat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of arachnology 2006-01, Vol.34 (1), p.51-61
Main Author: Ortega-Escobar, Joaquín
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ales
Animal behavior
Animals
Araneae
Behavior
Burrows
Direction estimation
Eyes
Featured s
Homing
Lycosa tarentula
Lycosidae
optical flow
Optics
Physiological aspects
Polarized light
Spiders
Visual fields
Visual information
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Summary:Spiders of the species Lycosa tarentula (Linnaeus 1758) (Araneae, Lycosidae) use a vector navigation system while homing under natural conditions. Under laboratory conditions, in the absence of information relative to the sun's position or any pattern of polarized light, L. tarentula uses a path integration system which consists of turning at a fixed angle similar to one that could carry it to its burrow. In the absence of light, the angle is random. In this study we ask whether the spiders acquire the information about the angle turned during the outward journey through the anterior lateral eyes (ALEs), whose visual fields are directed towards the ground. To answer this question, two groups of animals were studied: one group with only the ALEs covered and another group with all eyes except ALEs covered. Our results show that ALE information alone is adequate to obtain the angle at which the animal should turn when homing.
ISSN:0161-8202
1937-2396
DOI:10.1636/S04-103.1