Homing in the wolf spider Lycosa tarantula (Araneae, Lycosidae): the role of active locomotion and visual landmarks |
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Authors: | Carmen Reyes-Alcubilla Miguel A Ruiz Joaquín Ortega-Escobar |
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Institution: | (1) Faculty of Psychology, University Autónoma of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain |
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Abstract: | Previous studies on the homing of the wolf spider Lycosa tarantula have shown that it is carried out by path integration. Animals using this mechanism must measure the distance walked and
the angles turned. This study aims to understand if wolf spider L. tarantula is able to estimate the walked distance in an outward path. As this information is more likely obtained by proprioceptive
mechanisms, active or passive displacements have been performed. An active locomotion was found essential to estimate distances.
During passive locomotion, spiders searched for their burrows near the release point while when displaced actively the inbound
journey was longer than the outbound one. The possible use of visual landmarks near the burrow was also tested as a cue to
complete the inbound journey. Our results did not show that L. tarantula used these visual landmarks to find the burrow. L. tarantula seems to use only proprioceptive information obtained during the outbound path to estimate the distance traveled. |
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Keywords: | Path integration Distance estimation Navigation Visual landmarks Spider Lycosa tarantula |
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