'Science Friday' highlights UC's research on jumping spiders

The national radio show "Science Friday" highlighted some fascinating biology research in the University of Cincinnati's Morehouse Lab on March 8.

UC student Alexis Dodson presented a paper this year at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology on jumping spiders that pretend to be ants. Dodson and her fellow researchers discovered that a jumping spider called Synemosyna formica mimics two different species of ant as it grows to sell the illusion to potential predators.

Baby spiders mimic a tiny ant called Crematogaster while the adult spiders mimic a bigger ant called Camponotus. UC researchers used an elliptical Fourier analysis to make the exacting comparison.

Dodson also discovered that while the baby spiders look like skinny three-segmented ants both from above and in profile, the adult spiders retain their spiderly proportions in profile, possibly to attract mates.

UC assistant professor Nathan Morehouse will use a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the extraordinary vision of jumping spiders around the world.

Dodson spoke about her UC research with host Ira Flatow.

• Tune in to "Science Friday" to listen to the archived show

• Phys.org: Spiders that pretend to be ants keep their spiderly proportions to attract mates
  
• La Sexta: (Spain) How the spider becomes an ant to protect itself from predators
• Tekk TV: (Germany) Spiders pretending to be ants retain their spiderly proportions to attract mates
  
• Noticias del Sciencia: (Spain) How an ant mimic disguises itself to avoid being devoured
• El Spectador: (Colombia) The spider that disguises itself as an ant

Featured image at top: A jumping spider in UC biologist Nathan Morehouse's lab. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services