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Love is blind for these endemic spiders, except for a chemical connection

T. paludicola resting on a piece of stick
George Roderick & Rosemary Gillespie
T. paludicola resting on a piece of stick

How do we communicate with our mates? We might talk to them, text them, or even slide into their direct messages on social media.

But this group of endemic Hawaiian spiders? A new study found they use chemicals to seek out potential partners and recognize their own species.

University of California, Berkeley, postdoctoral researcher Ashley Adams led that skin-crawling research on the Hawaiian Tetragnatha spider.

Adams spoke with The Conversation about her paper "Chemical species recognition in an adaptive radiation of Hawaiian Tetragnatha spiders (Araneae: Tetragnathidae)."

This interview aired on The Conversation on April 23, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.

Maddie Bender is a producer on The Conversation. She also provided production assistance on HPR's "This Is Our Hawaiʻi" podcast. Contact her at mbender@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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