Studies on the formation of ommochrome pigment granules are very few, despite their generalized occurrence as screening pigments in insect eyes. This is particularly true for ommochrome granules responsible for epidermal coloration. The aims of this study were to characterize the localization of major body pigments in a color changing mimetic spider, Misumena vatia (Thomisidae), and to describe...

BACKGROUND The genus Platythomisus Doleschall, 1859 presently comprises 13 valid species, nine known from Africa and four from Asia. All Platythomisus species are known from females only, except P. jucundus Thorell, 1894 and P. sudeepi Biswas, 1977 from both sexes and P. quadrimaculatus from juvenile. Only, P. sudeepi was reported from India. NEW INFORMATION Platythomisus octomaculatus (C. L....

The diet of the Western Palaearctic species closely related crab spider genera Tmarus Simon, 1875 and Monaeses Thorell, 1869 is only little known. A quantitative analysis images showing spiders with prey, collected from World Wide Web literature, suggests that both mainly prey on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), while occasionally capturing other arthropods, such as (Araneae). Most depict feedin...

Extreme sexual body size dimorphism (SSD), in which males are only a small fraction of the size of the females, occurs only in a few, mostly marine, taxonomic groups. Spiders are the only terrestrial group in which small males are relatively common, particularly among orb-weavers (especially in the families Tetragnathidae and Araneidae) and crab spiders (Thomisidae). We used a taxonomic sample ...