In focus: Jerzego sunil limaye
- Morphology
- Large body size (Females double the size of Males)
- A crescent-shaped golden–yellow stripe in the posterior half of the abdomen
- Habitat
- Areas covered with a thick canopy dominated by trees, such as Mango Trees.
In brief: Jumping Spiders and Spiders
Jumping spiders
- Jumping spider family is the most diverse spider family with around 6000 species discovered so far.
- In India, there are about 256 species of jumping spiders known till date.
- Characteristics
- Larger anterior median eyes and possess brilliant vision.
- They are diurnal hunters with swift reflexes.
Spiders: Arachnids
- Kingdom: Spider belongs to phylum ‘Arthropoda’
- Class: Under arthropoda, spiders belong to ‘Arachnids’ class which also includes scorpions, mites, and ticks.
- They have 4 pairs of walking legs.
- Spiders construct webs by spinning fibers of silk (basically protein molecules) to trap flying insects.
- Feeding organ of spiders include fangs.
- Fangs have poison glands which help in paralyzing the prey.
- Thus spiders are predators mainly feeding on insects.
- As a result spiders are good pest-controllers.
- Spiders are also called as the tigers of micro-habitat due to its ecological sensitivity.
Section : Environment & Ecology
