Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Image:Fishing spider autotomy.jpg

Reason

I was initially shooting this spider simply as an illustration of a fishing spider - the example of autotomy coming as a unexpected bonus. I wasn't sure if this was an example of autotomy or of a less voluntary "ripping off" amputation, but I had this confirmed by Martyn Robinson a naturalist at the Australian Museum. The picture is of high technically quality (sharp, nice lighting, nice composition showing the spider's ability to walk on water) and is of an interesting subject.

Caption

A fishing spider in the family Pisauridae and genus Dolomedes which has jettisoned two of its legs - most likely as a response to being attacked by a predator

Articles this image appears in

Autotomy

Creator

Fir0002

• Support as nominator Fir0002 00:47, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support It is a really interesting shot. The places, where his legs used to be look as eyes, which IMO could prevent him from feature attacks.--Mbz1 (talk) 02:02, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support. I like the picture, really nice composition and light, and if it is a confirmed illustration of autotomy, then all the better. I wonder if it couldn't go in some other articles as well. PS. Nice nomination :-). --jjron (talk) 06:58, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support Wow, that's fascinating. Aside from the biology freak in me wanting to examine that up close, the shot is very well done. Master of Puppets ^{Care to share?} 07:04, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support GREAT!!! Muhammad Mahdi Karim (talk) 07:46, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support Interesting, high enc, good quality as well. --Janke | Talk 09:40, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support but the caption needs to be improved.--Svetovid (talk) 12:34, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • The caption's perfectly acceptable. --jjron (talk) 15:12, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Acceptable by you, not me. I'll let myself decide for myself, thank you very much.--Svetovid (talk) 18:29, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • Acceptable per the criteria (unless you're another one creating your own criteria ;) ). --jjron (talk) 23:40, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support - Nice shot. Rt. 15:12, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Comment. Don't want to rain on your parade but check this journal article out: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/109914633/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 . It's from the Journal of Morphology, published in 2005, and says they concluded that autotomy does not exist in arachnids.
  talk) 15:22, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply
  ]

Actually, perhaps you should disregard this. I'm not sure what's going on with this article, but you can see that it says (C)1926 even though the publishing date is 2005. In web of science this article is cited to 1926. The author published most of her other work in the 20s and 30s and according to the site of some B&B in her old house, she is now (predictably) dead. Other recent articles say this is in fact a real phenomenon, e.g. Brueseke MA, Rypstra AL, Walker SE, et al. Leg autotomy in the wolf spider Pardosa milvina: A common phenomenon with few apparent costs . AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 146 (1): 153-160 JUL 2001; Guffey C. Costs associated with leg autotomy in the harvestmen Leiobunum nigripes and Leiobunum vittatum (Arachnida : Opiliones), CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY-REVUE CANADIENNE DE ZOOLOGIE 77 (5): 824-830 MAY 1999; Guffey C. Leg autotomy and its potential fitness costs for two species of harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones) . JOURNAL OF ARACHNOLOGY 26 (3): 296-302 1998.

talk) 15:44, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply

]

Huh? Rt. 15:55, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Long story short: it looked like there was a 2005 article saying this phenomenon didn't occur in spiders. But somehow that article is actually from 1926, not 2005, and autotomy has been documented in at least several other species of spiders in recent journal articles.

talk) 17:32, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply

]

• Support -Sharkface217 22:42, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support - Gruesomely enc. Fir, you live in one freaky part of the world. --Sean 22:54, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Why do you think britain sent its prisioners there? --ffroth 08:46, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Why for the spectacular views of course! :P --Fir0002 00:15, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• ` Great Interesting picture, and having no leg is just an added bonus —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tenio (talk • contribs) 03:35, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support: Yes, well done. Although I hate spiders ;) —αἰτίας •discussion• 18:13, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Support but I really think you should upload the bigger version, Peter. H92110 (talk) 15:25, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Fishing spider autotomy.jpg MER-C 08:40, 22 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]