Figure 4.

Reduced sand coverage occurred where hairlettes were absent in Homalonychus. To test the role of hairlettes in sand adhesion we compared sand adhesion in regions of the carapace where hairlettes are lacking with regions where they were present in Homalonychus. (a,b) Sand coverage on Sicarius carapace. (c,d) Sand coverage on Homalonychus carapace. (e) Sand coverage in eye region of Homalonychus. (f) View of Homalonychus dusted carapace from behind, showing sand coverage on the posterior slope. (g,h) Magnified views of sand coverage on the posterior slope of the Homalonychus carapace. ‘i’ marks the eyes of spiders; arrow in (h) marks localized sand clumping around setae.