Spider attracted to human odor
Feb. 18th, 2011 06:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanThis BBC story is about a jumping spider that feeds on malaria-carrying Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. Researchers found that it was attracted to the odor of sweaty socks (by comparing its reactions to clean vs. sweaty socks). That's pretty cool--I haven't before seen a predator on a parasite attracted to the odor of the parasite's host, but it must happen.
I would like to know if the spider is attracted to the odor of other vertebrate hosts of mosquitoes. The most interesting sentence of the article is this: "When they smell blood, they can launch into feeding frenzies where they kill up to 20 mosquitoes in rapid succession, and not necessarily to eat all of them."
I would like to know if the spider is attracted to the odor of other vertebrate hosts of mosquitoes. The most interesting sentence of the article is this: "When they smell blood, they can launch into feeding frenzies where they kill up to 20 mosquitoes in rapid succession, and not necessarily to eat all of them."
