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Spiders have hairy legs!

| Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:22 PM



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A common house spider was immobilized between two layers of transparent scotch tape and was imaged using a FoldScope that was equipped with a low-magnification (140x) lens, LED light module, condenser lens, magnetic camera coupler, and iPhone (5) camera.  The spider’s legs were coated in long hairs that often emerged from near the spider’s elbows/knees (see attached images).  This finding is consistent with previous observations that spiders contain both chemosensory and mechanosensory organs that sometimes resemble human hair (http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/A_spider’s_tactile_hairs).  In the future, it will be interesting to see if multiple types of hairs will become visible at high-magnification.

IMG_9172_cr IMG_9185_cr IMG_9193_cr



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Type of Sample
unknown
Foldscope Lens Magnification
140x

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