Toss a piece of leaf onto a spiderweb. The spider is indifferent. Because leaves don't squirm like captured flies. But Australia's "assassin bug" _1_ spiders. It exploits their keen sense for vibrations by _2_—luring unwitting spiders into _3_.Researchers observed how spiders reacted to various visitors to their webs—like leaf fragments, courting males, prey like flies, and the assassin bugs. The spiders ignored leaves, and _4_. But they approached assassin bugs just as if they were investigating a juicy fly.Then the researchers analyzed the frequency, duration and amplitude of each visitor's vibrations. And they found that assassin bug's vibes most closely matched some of those of prey. When prey struggle violently, spiders _5_—a potentially dangerous situation for assassin bugs. The research is in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society assassin bug’s choice of vibrations maximizes the chances that the spider, while still behaving like the hunter, becomes the hunted.
【視聽版科學(xué)小組榮譽(yù)出品】
turns the tables on mimicking the movements of prey striking range assumed mating position for males rush to subdue them
向蜘蛛網(wǎng)扔片樹葉，蜘蛛老大肯定無動于衷，那只是片樹葉，又不會像自投羅網(wǎng)的蒼蠅那樣扭來就去。不過，當(dāng)蜘蛛遇上澳大利亞食蟲椿象，那情形就反轉(zhuǎn)了。蜘蛛對震動反應(yīng)敏銳，食蟲椿象正是利用這一點(diǎn)，模仿蜘蛛獵物扭動掙扎，繼而把蜘蛛引誘到自己的攻擊范圍之內(nèi)。 研究人員觀察了當(dāng)樹葉、求偶對象、蒼蠅之類的獵物以及食蟲椿象等各種不同生物落到蜘蛛網(wǎng)上時蜘蛛的反應(yīng)。樹葉之類直接無視掉~至于愛慕者光臨嘛，當(dāng)然是好好享受兩人世界啦~但蜘蛛會把食蟲椿象當(dāng)成美味可口的蒼蠅一般的獵物，迫不及待對其下手。 研究人員經(jīng)分析各造訪生物震動的頻率、持續(xù)時間以及振幅發(fā)現(xiàn)，食蟲椿象與蜘蛛的某些獵物的震動特點(diǎn)最為相似。要是獵物拼命掙扎，蜘蛛會在第一時間把他們解決掉——對食蟲椿象來說這也是個潛在危險。這項研究刊登在《皇家學(xué)會學(xué)報B》上。 食蟲椿象選擇的振動方式將蜘蛛變成獵物的幾率最大化，可憐那蜘蛛還蒙在鼓里呢╮(╯▽╰)╭