Learning through Photography

You never know when and where you'll leave an impact. For those that know me, you know my passion around engaging the public in science and introducing them to the world of arthropods. Recently, that passion and my hobby of photography overlapped in an unexpected way. I entered a photography competition with the Indiana Wildlife Artists (www.indianawildlifeartists.org) and was delighted to see my photo of a jumping spider led the President to learn more about spiders and inspired her to share that information in a recent newsletter. Thank you Diana Hunter for appreciating the details of all wildlife.

I've added the newsletter article with her permission below:

Message from the President

Well, I must admit that I was intrigued! When I talk about the intricacies of nature, the diversities of? species and the variations involved, I am amazed! I was proof-reading the online IWA exhibit when I? ran across a photography entry from Ronda Hamm, a new IWA member. She photographed a? “jumping spider”. Where I live in Indianapolis, I see spiders, such as the yellow garden spider. I? learned all kinds of facts from various websites, such as, https://spideridentifications.com/yellow garden.html. Some of the interesting facts were that a yellow garden spider can eat something that is? 200% of its size. What do they eat? “Grasshoppers, aphids, bees, wasps, and flies.” “Due to their poor? eyesight, they communicate through vibration of the web and perceive things by the air current.” In the? picture you will notice a zig-zag line, like a signature. Because of this the yellow garden spider is some times called the “writing” spider.?

However, viewing the “jumping spider” I saw that it had 4 eyes. I was amazed, but I was quite wrong.? It has 8 eyes—4 in the front and 4 in another location, so that a jumping spider can see quite well.? From https://www.thoughtco.com/jumping-spiders-family-salticidae-1968562 I found that jumping? spiders don’t scare very easily, but they do scare humans! Why, because they can jump up to 50 times? their size. Therefore, you do not know where they will land! “Saltcidae is the largest family of spiders,? with over 5,000 species described worldwide.” Then at https://theconversation.com/how-do-jumping spiders-make-a-perfect-landing-watch-and-learn-16798 you can watch videos showing a jumping spider? in action. It turns out that “The flair these little gymnasts demonstrate is due to their control with their? dragline, rather than their eight legs.?

“Researchers in Japan have now discovered that the arachnids accurately sense distances by comparing a blurry version of an image with a clear one, a method called image defocus.”?

Jumping spiders have four eyes densely packed in a row: two large principal eyes and two small lateral?eyes. The spider uses its principal eyes to sense the motion of an object, such as a fly, which it then zeros in on using its principal eyes, Akihisa Terakita, a biologist at Osaka City University in Japan and? lead author of the new study, explained in a e-mail to LiveScience.”??(From https://www.livescience.com/18143-jumping-spider-unique-vision.html)?

Artwork on display at the Minnetrista Cultural Center, 1200 N Minnestrista Pkwy, Muncie, IN 47303.

To view the virtual exhibit go to: https://indianawildlifeartists.org/2021_CATALOG_Hamm.html