The act of autotomy and subsequent limb regeneration occurs fairly frequently in wolf spiders. Limb regeneration however can have its tradeoffs, causing a decrease in mass and prolonged development; this process can sometimes result in a limb that is shorter, misshaped, and discolored. Differential uses across the legs may influence how spiders invest in their regeneration. In both sexes, the f...

Although crab spiders are common in flowering plants, their relations with plant species and its floral traits have been poorly known in the Neotropics. Observations regarding plant habits, floral visitors and also floral characteristics such as anthesis, odour, shape, colour and floral resources were recorded in flowering plant species of an area of "Cerrado" on a 2 km long trail. Misumenops a...

The notion of ̳causal web‘ emerged in the epidemiological literature in the early Sixties and had to wait until the Nineties for a thorough critical appraisal. Famously, Nancy Krieger argued that such a notion isn‘t helpful unless we specify what kind of spiders create the webs. This means, according to Krieger, (i) that the role of the spiders is to provide an explanation of the yarns of the w...

The orb webs of the four species Araneus pima (species nova), Araneus diadematus (Clerck), Argiope aurantia (Lucas), and Neoscona domiciliorum (Hentz) built under controlled laboratory conditions were compared and evaluated quantitatively at two different points in the life cycle in regard to size, regularity, shape, and fine structure. Orb webs of two species from one genus can be distinguishe...

Cognitive-motivational theories of phobias propose that patients' behavior is characterized by a hypervigilance-avoidance pattern. This implies that phobics initially direct their attention towards fear-relevant stimuli, followed by avoidance that is thought to prevent objective evaluation and habituation. However, previous experiments with highly anxious individuals confirmed initial hypervigi...

A proof of concept virtual reality system is presented that integrates ultrasonic feedback sensations to provide a demonstrative exposure therapy environment containing multiple scenarios with spiders. This and were utilised conduct study 35 participants the goal investigating effect could have on their level anxiety. anxiety was measured in three different forms: changes frontal asymmetry anal...

Six new species of marpissoid jumping spiders from Sarawak, Borneo, are described in the new genus Tisaniba Zhang & Maddison. They are the type species, T. mulu Zhang & Maddison sp. nov., as well as the species T. bijibijan Zhang & Maddison sp. nov., T. dik Zhang & Maddison sp. nov., T. kubah Zhang & Maddison sp. nov., T. selan Zhang & Maddison sp. nov., and T. selasi Zhang & Maddison sp. nov. ...

During a 6-mo period, 2,055 brown recluse spiders, Loxosceles reclusa Gertsch and Mulaik, were collected in a 19th-century-built, currently occupied home in Lenexa, KS. We conservatively estimate that at least 400 of these spiders were large enough to cause envenomation. Additional collections from more typically infested homes in Missouri and Oklahoma in 2001 yielded 45 and 30 brown recluse sp...

The electrocortical correlates of the processing of feared/fear-relevant and neutral stimuli were investigated in a pictorial emotional Stroop paradigm with spider phobic, social phobic, and nonphobic subjects. Subjects identified either the color of red or blue pictures of spiders, birds, or flowers (emotional Stroop task) or the object itself (identification task) by pressing different button...

Attention biases have been reported for ancestral threats like spiders and snakes in infants, children, and adults. However, it is currently unclear whether these stimuli induce increased physiological arousal in infants. Here, 6-month-old infants were presented with pictures of spiders and flowers (Study 1, within-subjects), or snakes and fish (Study 1, within-subjects; Study 2, between-subjec...