title: Vision as a third sensory modality to elicit attack behavior in a nocturnal spider.
abstract: Cupiennius salei (Ctenidae) has been extensively studied for many years and is probably the only spider that presently can be considered a model organism for neuro-ethology. The night-active spiders have been shown to predominantly rely on their excellent mechano-sensory systems for courtship and prey capture, whereas vision was assumed to play a minor role, if any, in these behavioral contexts. Using slowly moving discs presented on a computer screen it could be shown for the first time that visual stimuli alone can elicit attack behavior (abrupt approaching reactions) in these spiders as well. These observations suggest that visual information could be used by the spiders to elicit and guide predatory behavior. Attack behavior in Cupiennius salei can thus be triggered independently by three sensory modalities--substrate vibrations, airflow stimuli, and visual cues--and offers an interesting model system to study the interactions of multimodal sensory channels in complex behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria. lisa.fenk@univie.ac.at
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Fenk
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoinkes
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmid
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D003623:Dark Adaptation / Q000502:physiology; D009799:Ocular Physiological Phenomena; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013112:Spiders; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
references.citation: J Exp Biol. 2009 Sep 1;212(17):2819-23
references.pmid: 19684216
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 1993 Feb 1;328(1):43-62
references.pmid: 7679122
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Oct 18;102(42):15155-60
references.pmid: 16217015
references.citation: Brain Behav Evol. 2002;59(4):222-30
references.pmid: 12138342
references.citation: J Exp Biol. 1998 Jan;201(Pt 2):221-5
references.pmid: 9405307
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 1993 Feb 1;328(1):63-75
references.pmid: 7679123
references.citation: J Exp Biol. 2010 Sep 15;213(Pt 18):3111-7
references.pmid: 20802111
references.citation: Oecologia. 1988 Nov;77(2):194-201
references.pmid: 28310372
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Oct 7;277(1696):3019-25
references.pmid: 20462900