A Spider’s World Senses and Behavior

Spiders are wonderful creatures. Their varied and complex range of behavior and highly developed sensory systems are excellently adapted to the environmental conditions - as is proven by their evolutionary success. Over 400 million years, spiders have developed their sensory organs to a fascinating technical perfection and complexity.
In his intriguing book, Professor Friedrich G. Barth puts this technical perfection into the context of "biology", in which the interaction between environment and sensory organs and the selectivity of the senses as a link between environment and behavior play a major role.

A The General Biology of Cupiennius.- I How it All Began.- II The Relatives — Who Is Who?.- III The Habitat.- IV Daily Activity Rhythm.- V No Spider Without Poison.- B Sensory Systems.- VI The Special Significance of Mechanical Senses.- VII The Measurement of Strain in the Exoskeleton.- VIII The Vibration Sense.- IX Trichobothria — The Measurement of Air Movement.- X Proprioreception.- XI The Eyes.- XII Chemoreception.- XIII Hygro- and Thermoreception: Blumenthal’s Tarsal Organ.- C The Central Nervous System and Its Peripheral Nerves.- XIV The Central Nervous System.- XV The Route for Afferent Inputs to the CNS.- XVI Two Visual Systems in One Brain.- XVII Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators.- D Senses and Behavior.- XVIII Signposts to the Prey: Substrate Vibrations.- XIX Signposts to the Prey: Airflow Stimuli.- XX Courtship and Vibratory Communication.- XXI Kinesthetic Orientation.- XXII Visual Targets.- XXIII Raising the Body When Walking over an Obstacle.- XXIV Locomotion and Leg Reflexes.- XXV Swinging to a New Plant: the Dispersal of the Spiderlings.- Epilogue.- References.- Appendix (Identification Key).

Professor Friedrich G. Barth was born in Munich, Germany, in 1940. He studied biology and human physiology in Munich and Los Angeles. In 1967, he obtained his doctorate under H. Autrum, 1970 he received his Habilitation in zoology. In 1974, he was offered a chair at the University of Frankfurt/M. Since 1987, he has been professor at the University of Vienna, Austria. His main areas of research are neurobiology, sensory systems, and biomechanics. He is a member of several scientific academies and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Comparative Physiology A.