A sticky situation: solifugids (Arachnida, Solifugae) use adhesive organs on their pedipalps for prey capture

Solifugids (Arachnida, Solifugae) have unique evertable adhesive organs on the tips of their pedipalps, named ‘suctorial’ or ‘palpal’ organs. Previous studies have shown that these organs enable solifugids to climb smooth glass-like surfaces and have hypothesized that these structures facilitate pre...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of ethology 2011, Vol.29 (1), p.177-180
Hauptverfasser: Willemart, Rodrigo H., Santer, Roger D., Spence, Andrew J., Hebets, Eileen A.
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Solifugids (Arachnida, Solifugae) have unique evertable adhesive organs on the tips of their pedipalps, named ‘suctorial’ or ‘palpal’ organs. Previous studies have shown that these organs enable solifugids to climb smooth glass-like surfaces and have hypothesized that these structures facilitate prey capture. Here, we use high-speed videography to demonstrate that the suctorial organs of Eremochelis bilobatus are its primary means of capturing insect prey. We also present calculations of the adhesive pressure exerted by these suctorial organs during real prey capture events.
ISSN:0289-0771
1439-5444
DOI:10.1007/s10164-010-0222-4