Small details in a large spider: cheliceral and spinneret behavior when Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Araneidae) cuts lines and wraps prey (original) (raw)
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Attack behavior of diguetid spiders and the origin of prey wrapping in spiders
Psyche: A Journal of Entomology
Spiders use silk in prey capture in two ways: in the construction of webs which trap and partially immobilize prey, and in wrapping prey. Aerial webs have evolved independently in several families of spiders, including the Araneidae, Uloboridae, and Diguetidae (Kaston, 1966). As pointed out by Savory (1952, p. 20), a spider's web greatly extends the area covered by its sense of touch ; it also at least partially immobilizes any prey which encounters it. Thus a webliving spider is more likely to "encounter" a new, partially subdued prey while handling another than is a webless spider. Most prey which become caught in a web will eventually work free and escape unless they are further immobilized. Barrows (1915) found that flies remained in the orbs of Araneus sericatus (Epeira sclopetaria) an average of only 5 seconds. However, most aerial web spinning spiders hang upside down in their webs, and if they dropped a prey which they had already caught while making a new attack, it would fall from the web and be lost. It is probably for this reason that many of these spiders wrap their prey and secure it to the web soon after encountering it, thus freeing their chelicerae for subsequent attacks. Araneids and uloborids spin orb webs and use silk extensively to immobilize prey. Diguetids spin less highly organized webs, and never use silk in prey immobilization. However, they often apply silk to prey already subdued by biting. This paper shows how postimmobilization prey wrapping may have led to the use of silk as an attack weapon by the orb weavers. I observed the following species attacking prey: Aphonopelma sp. (Theraphosidae, various ages, both sexes), Metepeira labyrintha (Hentz) (Araneidae, various ages, both sexes), Argiope trifasciata (Forskal) (Araneidae, females of various ages), Uloborus diverms Research supported by a grant from the Committee on Evolutionary
Predatory behavior of spitting spiders (Araneae: Scytodidae) and the evolution of prey wrapping
The predatory behavior of the spitting spider Scytodes sp . was studied in the laboratory, and an ethogram of the predatory behavior was developed . The principal components usually occur in th e order: tapping, spitting, biting, wrapping, feeding. Spitting results in a pair of sticky, zig-zag, transverse bands which pin the prey to the substrate . At the capture site scytodids wrap the prey usin g the typical form seen in the "higher" spiders : the spider holds the prey in both third legs an d alternates the use of right and left fourth legs in applying silk . Prey are eaten at the capture site .
The evolution of prey‐wrapping behaviour in spiders
Journal of Natural History, 2007
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Web building and prey wrapping behavior of Aglaoctenus castaneus (Araneae: Lycosidae: Sosippinae)
Journal of Arachnology
Funnel webs are common and widespread taxonomically, but little is known about how they are built or details of their structure. Aglaoctenus castaneus (Mello-Leitão, 1942) (Lycosidae) builds horizontal, densely meshed funnel webs of non-adhesive silk, with a tangle of lines above. Web construction behavior was unique in that the spider frequently laid swaths of lines rather than simple drag lines, both to float bands of fine lines on the breeze as bridges to distant objects and to fill in the sheet. Spiders utilized special spinneret movements to widen the swaths of lines that they laid on sheets. These movements have not been seen in web construction by other araneomorphs, but are were similar to and perhaps evolutionarily derived from those used during prey wrapping by many other species. Observations, made with a compound microscope, of the construction behavior of the agelenid Melpomene sp. O.P. Cambridge 1898, and of lines and attachments in sheets of these species and another funnel web spider, the zoropsid Tengella radiata (Kulczyński, 1909) demonstrated the possibly general nature of including obstacles in the web. This probably disadvantageous behavior may be related to constraints in selecting web sites imposed by the need for sheltered retreats, or to the spider's inability to remove preliminary lines. The observation also showed the importance of further improvements in the discriminations made between ''sheet'' and ''brushed'' webs in recent discussions of spider web evolution.
Silk use and spiderling behavior in the tarantula Brachypelma vagans (Araneae: Theraphosidae)
ACTA ZOOLÓGICA MEXICANA (N.S.)
Brachypelma vagas belongs to a genus of tarantulas protected against illegal trading. Its distribution range is in Mesoamerica. The spiderlings remain together in the maternal burrow after hatching and after several weeks, they disperse forming a column of about hundred individuals leading away from the burrow. In several spider species, during the gregarious phase and dispersion, spiderlingsdo not show aggressive behavior toward siblings. Silk is an important element in dispersion. However, knowledge of the first stage of B. vagans life is scarce. In the present study, therefore, we describe the natural history of the first stage of life of this species, with particular attention to the development, silk production, interactions between sibling and dispersion. Two egg sacs were collected in the field and maintained in laboratory conditions, without the mother. After hatching, we counted 200 individuals peregg sac; they are cream colored and 2-3 mm long. The first molt occurred at e...
The role of behavior in the evolution of spiders, silks, and webs
2007
Spiders' silks and webs have made it possible for this diverse taxon to occupy a unique niche as the main predator for another, even more diverse taxon, the insects. Indeed, it might well be that the spiders, which are older, were a major force driving the insects into their diversity in a coevolutionary arms race. The spiders' weapons were their silks and here we explore the evidence for the evolution of silk production and web building as traits in spider phylogeny.
2000
ABSTRACT A number of taxonomically diverse species of araneoid spiders adorn their orb-webs with conspicuous silk structures, called decorations or stabilimenta. The function of these decorations remains controversial and several explanations have been suggested. These include:(1) stabilising and strengthening the web;(2) hiding and concealing the spider from predators;(3) preventing web damage by larger animals, such as birds;(4) increasing foraging success; or (5) providing a sunshield.
Journal of Experimental Biology, 2012
SUMMARY Theraphosid tarantulas, like all other spiders, secrete silk from spigots on the abdominal spinnerets. A few years ago, it was proposed that the large tarantula Aphonopelma seemanni could extrude silk from specialized spigots on the tarsi to help adhesion to vertical surfaces. This suggestion was later questioned because silk was not observed after the spinnerets had been sealed. Recently, experiments with the tarantula Grammostola rosea again suggested tarsal silk secretion. All observations of the supposed tarsal silk were made in spiders with functional spinnerets, thus contamination with silk coming from the spinnerets could not be excluded. Recent morphological arguments also questioned putative tarsal spigots and proposed that they are actually contact chemoreceptors. We here test the supposed tarsal silk secretion in Aphonopelma seemanni, Avicularia avicularia, Brachypelma vagans and Grammostola mollicoma using similar experimental conditions as the previous authors, ...
The external morphology of the spinning apparatus of the troglobitic spider species Rhode aspinifera (Nicolic, 1963) was studied using scanning electron microscopy. Three pairs of spinnerets in adult stages of both sexes are equipped with three kinds of spigots (i.e. external outlets of silk spinning glands). The silk-producing organ is equipped with the same types of glands (Glandulae ampullaceae, Gl. piriformes and Gl. psudaciniformes) as those of other dysderids studied so far; however, the total number of their spigots (and the glands connected to them) is very small. This may be an adaptive response to reduce the production of energetically costly silk.