The fascination of spiders: all you wanted to know but were afraid to ask

Abstract

View Large Image | Download PowerPoint SlideIt has been 30 years since the publication of the first edition of Biology of Spiders and it is still the authoritative text dealing with this fascinating group of invertebrates. The third edition has been updated to encompass the vast body of research undertaken over the 12 years since the second edition and includes 500 new references and 100 new illustrations. Although the photographs are all of the highest quality, it is a shame that the publishers did not use colour, which would have added extra impact to this volume.Biology of Spiders begins with an overview of the major families of spider, outlining their natural history and any notable species in the group. It then moves on to discuss the anatomy of spiders in detail, dealing with each body part in turn. The section on scapulae and claw tufts arrested my attention with a fascinating account of how many spiders use van der Walls forces to walk on the ceiling. The chapter on metabolism deals with the diversity of venoms, ingestion and filtering of food, digestion, excretion and respiration. The neurobiology chapter gives an account of vision, mechanical and chemical receptors, along with the nervous system. The greatly enlarged chapter on webs and silk reveal a dramatic increase in our understanding of both. It clearly demonstrates the diversity of functions of spider silk while highlighting the complexities of its structure and production. Other chapters deal with locomotion, reproduction, development, phylogeny and systematics. In addition, an expanded chapter on spider ecology deals with their distribution, habitat, prey, enemies, adaptations, thermoregulation, camouflage, communication and sociality.Foelix's easy style gently steers the reader through the complexities of this diverse and complex group of invertebrates. Although the text is framed around the chapters described above, it often veers off on many intriguing tangents demonstrating the stranger aspects of spider biology. There can be no doubt that spiders must be front runners when it comes to bizarre natural histories, from the semaphore signals of reproductive male wolf spiders to silken bondage in crab spiders, and from the pebble-dashed silken spiral retreat of Archearanea to the delicately adorned doily webs of Cyclosa. Even the front cover implies this, with a photograph of a male peacock spider (Maratus volans) in full courtship display.The spiders are one of the most astonishing groups of invertebrate on Earth and Rainer Foelix is ensuring that future generations of biologists remain fascinated and intrigued by them. Similar to its predecessors, the third edition of the Biology of Spiders will ensure that it remains the first port of call for anyone initiating any study of the spiders, while also becoming an essential reference for established researchers and teachers of invertebrate biology.