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- Title
Pollinator attraction: Crab-spiders manipulate flower signals.
- Authors
Heiling, Astrid M.; Herberstein, Marie E.; Chittka, Lars
- Abstract
Some European species of crab-spider match the colour of the flower on which they lie in wait to ambush insect pollinators, a tactic that is presumed to camouflage them from their intended prey and from predators. Here we show that the coloration of an Australian species of crab-spider, Thomisus spectabilis, which is cryptic on the white daisy Chrysanthemum frutescens to the human eye, is highly conspicuous to ultraviolet-sensitive insect prey — but that, instead of repelling foraging honeybees (Apis mellifera) as might be expected, the contrast of the spider against the petals makes the flowers more attractive. The spider is apparently exploiting the bee's pre-existing preference for flowers with colour patterning.
- Subjects
SPIDERS; POLLINATION; FLOWERS; THOMISUS
- Publication
Nature, 2003, Vol 421, Issue 6921, p334
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/421334a