Green spider

[Sp1d3rz]

Ok, will do!

[Mandy]

Got some news: I received a reply from Dr. Pedro Cardoso who has done significant work with Portuguese spiders. He says: "In fact the reddish spot is somewhat common in Micrommata virescens here in Portugal. Unless it is really, really red, which I have never seen."

I attached some of your images to the message, so I'm guessing that he didn't consider yours to be really, really red.

So my curiosity is satisfied now! I guess it's better that it really was something common instead of a new species that got away.

[Sp1d3rz]

Awesome! The next question now is: why do some portuguese Micrommata virescens have a red spot on the abdomen and the others haven't ? What are the regions in the world where the red spot is common on this species, and do they have it for a specific purpose ?

Anyways, thank you for sharing your expertise about spiders for free! This is one of the reasons why the internetz is such a great place.

[Mandy]

That is a really good question! ...and one that I don't fully understand the answer to (if there is one). There has been lots of research done on the evolution of color morphs in spiders, yet a lot of questions have not been answered quite yet. Since my own research is mainly focused on taxonomy/identification of spiders, I haven't spent a lot of time on that subject yet but I do have a few papers on it. From what I understand, there are actually a variety of reasons and theories for single species to have different color morphs (and many types of spider do). Environmental reasons, or sometimes just because of what the spider has been eating, or sometimes a spider evolves a new color to trick a specific predator or to entice a certain prey item, etc.. I really don't know if there's a specific answer in this case. I'm afraid such a deep question will go ignored by the researchers I know, but only because they are so busy with other things... otherwise I would ask. If you would like to check out some of the papers I have, let me know and I can private message you links to them in my DropBox (they are for personal use only, so I don't think I should share links here in a public forum).

Hey, no problem! I love spiders, so it's fun for me to be involved in a website like this. I agree, the internet can be a great place!

[Sp1d3rz]

Tbh I was shooting away questions without expecting any serious answers about them. What you said I sorta already knew that it would be the probable cause of the color morph. Thank you for your goodwill wanting to share the papers you have, but that won't be necessary.

[Mandy]

Oh, haha! Sorry to get all literal like that. Sometimes things get lost in translation through text. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!