Research project: Why are some jumping spiders so colorful?

Please go to http://experiment.com/projects/why-ar... to find out more about this project! Male jumping spiders are often extremely colorful, but the function of this color diversity is not well understood because spiders measured to date appear to lack true color vision. We recently discovered that Habronattus jumping spiders have evolved trichromatic color vision via the addition of red sensitivity. Now we want to find out if the appearance of this new color “channel” lead to the diversification of male colors in this animal group. We're trying to raise money for an expedition to Arizona, to collect jumping spiders from a number of species. We will document the whole project with a video diary as we go. By contributing to this project, you'll be able to take part in the process, and call yourself a PATRON OF THE SCIENCES! Twitter: @MorehouseLab @arachnarchy @sa_echeverri