How Does the Leg Hair of Spiders, Aphids and Ants differ? (BioE80 Spr2015)

May 26, 2015 • 9:14 PM UTC

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nstaffor

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I started off by collecting samples of an ant, aphid and spider because I was interest in seeing the difference in leg hair between the bugs. Then I used the foldscope to examine the legs of the ant, aphid and spider. Based on the images from the foldscope the spider has lots of tiny hairs all over both its front and back legs. Maybe this is what allows spiders to walk up walls? The aphid on the other hand had relatively smooth legs compared to the spider. It had a few hairs spaced out on its legs, but it did have sharp ridges along a segment of one of its front legs. Perhaps these are more helpful for inhabiting plants. An interesting find with the aphid was there was a drop of unknown liquid coming out of its backside. Finally, looking at the ant’s legs, I could not clearly see any hairs, but the tips of the black legs were divided into 3 smaller segments and at the tip there were three little lumps. Also farther up the leg closer to the body, there was what looked like a spike jutting out of its leg. Maybe this construction of the ant’s legs allows it to navigate all types of terrains. It is interesting that even though I found all these bugs in the same spot on the Stanford campus, they have such differences in their leg structures. Could these small differences give advantages to the bugs in certain habitats?
Spider Images:

Aphid Images:

Ant Image:

Explorer: Nicole Stafford

How Does the Leg Hair of Spiders, Aphids and Ants differ? (BioE80 Spr2015)

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