Velvet spiders emerge from underground in new cybertaxonomic monograph
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - 11:02
in Biology & Nature
Velvet spiders include some of the most beautiful arachnids in Europe and some of the world's most cooperative species. Social species can be very abundant in parts of tropical Africa and Asia with conspicuous colonies dotting the landscape. Social colonies may consist of hundreds of closely-related individuals that participate in dramatic mass attacks on prey (Figure 1) and care for their young. The ecology of these social species is fascinating and has been the subject of several landmark scientific papers. The study was published in a special issue of the open access journal ZooKeys.