Cincinnati Edition: UC studies surprising spider vision

University of Cincinnati biologist Nathan Morehouse talked to WVXU's Cincinnati Edition about the surprising color vision of jumping spiders.

Morehouse, an associate professor of biology in UC's College of Arts and Sciences, is in the middle of a five-year research project funded by the National Science Foundation to study jumping spiders around the world. So far, he and his research team have been to India, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa to study the evolution of spider vision.

Found on six continents, jumping spiders are ubiquitous and legion. There are more kinds of jumping spiders than mammals. So there is still a lot to learn about them, he said.

"They're everywhere. They're up in high alpine meadows and down in lowland rainforests or along beaches. They are here in Cincinnati, but they're also everywhere else in the world," Morehouse told WVXU.

Peacock jumping spiders use bold colors to attract mates during their courtship displays. 

"We've discovered that peacock jumping spiders have independently evolved the ability to see color as well as birds of paradise," Morehouse said. "They have four different color-sensitive cell types in their eyes."

Morehouse's team has learned that some drab-colored spiders, too, have similarly keen color vision.

"We're finding really interesting paradoxes or puzzles at the same time we're solving some," Morehouse said.

Featured image at top: A jumping spider in UC associate professor Nathan Morehouse's biology lab. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative + Brand