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School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences

Dr Tom Ings on the mystery of colour-changing camouflage in crab spiders

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Dr Tom Ings from the SBCS, an expert on crab spiders and their potential prey such as bees, has commented on new research reported in ScienceNews that the ability of crab spiders to switch colours may not help them to catch more prey. The research carried out by scientists in Switzerland involved videotaping over 2,000 instances when various insects hovered over a flower with a spider on it. They found a white spider on a white flower did not capture more prey than the same spider on a yellow flower. Tom Ings believes the colour changing abilities do help the spiders but admitted, “This paper is exciting, as it shows that we may be focusing our attention in the wrong direction.” 

 

 

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