Wasp spider foreign exchange program shows shifting heat tolerance

The march of wasp spiders into more northerly territories demonstrates how climate change may prompt species to alter their temperature preferences.

By analyzing the genetic diversity and distribution of the wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi) geneticists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology have pinned the initial shift in the spiders' range to the 1930s, occurring "in parallel with the onset of global warming."

The research, which sampled historical specimens from museum collections as well as contemporary spider populations, noted that after this initial change interbreeding allowed the spiders to gradually shift their natural temperature preferences and penetrate farther and farther north.