Predator and prey views of spider camouflage.
Crab-spiders (Thomisus onustus) positioned for hunting on flowers disguise themselves by assuming the same colour as the flower, a strategy that is assumed to fool both bird predators and insect prey. But although this mimicry is obvious to the human observer, it has never been examined with respect to different visual systems. Here we show that when female crab-spiders mimic different flower species, they are simultaneously cryptic in the colour-vision systems of both bird predators and hymenopteran prey.
Théry
Marc
M
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Générale, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 8571, 91800 Brunoy, France. thery@mnhn.fr
Casas
Jérôme
J
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology; D003116:Color; D005260:Female; D006927:Hymenoptera / Q000502:physiology; D018514:Plant Structures; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D013112:Spiders / Q000502:physiology*