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Heteropoda venatoria vs cockroaches

 

Trapdoor Spiders :

 

The name Trapdoor Spider scientifically covers several families and many different species. The Trapdoor spider family worldwide, include the Funnel-web, Mouse, Whistling, and Curtain-web spiders; they are distinguished by the stocky body, long leg-like palps, and two knee-like lobes to which the fangs join (chelicerae) in front. However the spider called Trapdoor in the USA is usually harmless to humans and the male is often found around homes and swimming pools in its travels looking for a mate.

 

Huntsman Spiders are those long-legged spiders we often surprise crawling around our ceilings at night. They are part of the "modern" spider species which breathe through trachea as well as through "book-lungs". They also have chelicerae which close
side to side. The legs of a huntsman spider fan out sideways and the joints bend forwards. This means these spiders can run sideways as well as forwards - useful under bark and among stones.

California trapdoor spider

 

Trapdoor feeding

Trapdoor spider

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

For the New York City social group, see Trap Door Spiders.

For other uses, see Trapdoor spider (disambiguation).

 

 

Trapdoor spiders, members of the family Ctenizidae, are medium-sized mygalomorph spidersthat construct burrows with a cork-like trapdoor made of soil, vegetation and silk. Some similar species are also called trapdoor spiders, such as those of the families Liphistiidae, Barychelidae,Cyrtaucheniidae and some species in Idiopidae and Nemesiidae. Some Conothele species do not build a burrow, but construct a silken tube with trapdoor in bark crevices.

 

Ecology and behaviour :

 

The trapdoor is difficult to see when it is closed because the plant and soil materials effectively camouflage it. The trapdoor is hinged on one side with silk. The spiders, which are usuallynocturnal, typically wait for prey while holding on to the underside of the door with the claws on theirtarsi. Prey is captured when insects, other arthropods, or small vertebrates disturb the 'trip' lines the spider lays out around its trapdoor, alerting the spider to a meal within reach. The spider detects the prey by vibrations and, when it comes close enough, leaps out of its burrow to make the capture.

 

A hungry individual will wait halfway outside of its burrow for a meal. Male trapdoor spiders can overcome the female's aggressive reactions to their approach, but it is not known how. Females never travel far from their burrows, especially if they have an egg sac. During this time, the female will capture food and regurgitate it to feed her spiderlings. Enemies of the trapdoor spider include certain pompilids (spider wasps), which seek out the burrows and manage to gain entrance. They sting the owner and lay their eggs (usually one per spider) on its body. When the egg hatches, the larva devours the spider alive.

 

Unlike other mygalomorph spiders, the Ctenizidae have a rastellum on the chelicera. Resembling "teeth" or "barbs" on each fang, this modification is used to dig and gather soil while constructing a burrow.[2] They use their pedipalps and first legs to hold the trapdoor closed when disturbed.

 

There are about 120 species of trapdoor spiders.

 

The Spider Wasps of the subfamily Ctenocerinae found in the Neotropics, Africa and Australia are specialised hunters of trapdoor spiders.

Scientific classification

 

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Arthropoda

Subphylum:Chelicerata

Class:Arachnida

Order:Araneae

Suborder:Opisthothelae

Infraorder:Mygalomorphae

Family:Ctenizidae
Thorell, 1887

 

Nest of Ummidia fragaria

 

Taxonomy :

 

The taxonomy of trapdoor spiders is currently not well understood in the United States and many species of the common genus Ummidia remain undescribed. Ummidia is distributed across the southern United States. Bothriocyrtum californicum is the common trapdoor spider of the Pacific Coast. The strange genus Cyclocosmia includes seven species, found in Florida, Eastern Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Mexico to Guatemala, China, Thailand and Canada. The discontinuous distribution is indicative of a basal genus that was affected by continental drift. The spiders of this genus are unusual in having a mask-like hardened plate on the opisthosoma, which seems to act as a second door to exclude predators, like the spider wasps. There is a narrow part of the burrow of these spiders where the abdominal shield just barely fits. Cyclocosmia torreya builds burrows in moss banks along theApalachicola River in Florida. Other genera of trapdoor spiders are found in other areas of the world. They actually may be more common than we may think because of their cryptic habits. They do tend to be localized in distribution and as such may be subject to extinction because of local habitat destruction.

Closed burrow of Cork-lid Trapdoor spider saved in padded container. Probable genus: Stasimopus

 

Genera :

 

The categorization into subfamilies follows Raven (1985)

  • Ctenizinae Thorell, 1887

  • Pachylomerinae Simon, 1889

    • Conothele Thorell, 1878 — Australian region

    • Hebestatis Simon, 1903 — Costa Rica, USA

    • Ummidia Thorell, 1875 — America, Mediterranean, Japan, Taiwan

 

Trapdoor spider burrow opened to show inside of corridor

 

Trapdoor spider burrow opened to show inside of lid with its ring of punctures where the spider had gripped.

 

Habitat :

 

Most Trapdoor spiders live in burrows. They live in warm places such as China, North America, South America, Africa and Japan. Trapdoor spiders don't live in webs. However, they make silk hinged doors that blend with their habitat. Not all Trapdoor spiders use trapdoors.

 

See also :

-List of Ctenizidae species

-List of spider common names

-Spider families

 

 

Footnotes:

 

-Murphy & Murphy 2000

-Jump up^ Holm, Erik, Dippenaar-Schoeman, Ansie; Goggo Guide; LAPA publishers (URL: WWW.LAPA.co.za). 2010

-Jump up^ Tso et al. 2003

-Jump up^ Evans H.E. 1972 The Tribe Ctenoceratini in Australia Aus. J. of Entom. 11(3) 244-252

-^ Jump up to:a b Eskov, K. Y.; Zonstein, S. L. (2000). "The First Ctenizoid Mygalomorph Spiders from Eocene Baltic Amber (Araneida: Mygalomorphae: Ctenizidae)". Paleontological Journal 34 (suppl. 3): S268–S274. Part 1;Part 2 (PDF).

 

For all other external links and references please click here .. 

male Latouchia parameleomenefrom Okinawa

 

female Latouchia swinhoei from Okinawa

 

Trap door spider range 

 

View From Inside the Burrow: Trapdoor Spider Feeding Video Compilation

 

Huntsman Spider - Heteropoda venatoria 

 

Huntsman Spiders are those long-legged spiders we often surprise crawling around our ceilings at night. They are part of the "modern" spider species which breathe through trachea as well as through "book-lungs". They also have chelicerae which close
side to side. The legs of a huntsman spider fan out sideways and the joints bend forwards. This means these spiders can run sideways as well as forwards - useful under bark and among stones.

 

Fishing Spiders  - genus Dolomedes

 

Fishing Spiders are quite large and may have a leg spread of  75 mm or more. Fishing spiders are hairy, large, and usually a mixture of black, brown, and grey. Although very difficult to distinguish from wolf spiders, nursery web and fishing spiders are usually slimmer in build. The Dolomedes spiders live near water; they walk on the surface of water and dive underneath it to feed on aquatic insects and even small fish. Not all fishing spiders live near water however.

 

Fishing spider hunts fishes

 

Dolomedes

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

"Fishing spider" redirects here. For the ctenid fishing spiders from Central and South America, see Ancylometes.

 

Dolomedes /dɒləˈmiːdiːz/ is a genus of large spiders of the family Pisauridae. They are also known asfishing spiders, raft spiders, dock spiders or wharf spiders. Almost all Dolomedes species are semi-aquatic, with the exception of the tree-dwelling D. albineus of the southwestern United States. Many species have a striking pale stripe down each side of the body.

 

They hunt by waiting at the edge of a pool or stream, then when they detect the ripples from prey, they run across the surface to subdue it using their foremost legs, which are tipped with small claws; like other spiders they then inject venom with their hollow jaws to kill and digest the prey. They mainly eat insects, but some larger species are able to catch small fish. They can also climb beneath the water, when they become encased in a silvery film of air. Six-spotted spiders can also walk on water to get their prey. Dolomedes is derived from the Greek word "dolomed" which means wily, deceitful.

 

There are over a hundred species of Dolomedes throughout the world; examples include Dolomedes aquaticus, a forest-stream species of New Zealand, the raft spider (D. fimbriatus), which lives in bogs in Europe, and the great raft spider (D. plantarius), which lives in fens, also in Europe. Many species are large, some with females up to 26 mm (1.0 in) long with a leg span of 80 mm (3.1 in).[1]

 

Scientific classification:

 

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Arthropoda

Class:Arachnida

Order:Araneae

Family:Pisauridae

Genus:Dolomedes
Latreille, 1804

 

Raft spider (D. fimbriatus) female with juvenile spiders

 

Aquatic adaptations:

 

Dolomedes spiders are covered all over in short, velvety hairs which are unwettable (hydrophobic). This allows them to use surface tension to stand or run on the water, like pond skaters. They can also climb beneath the water, and then air becomes trapped in the body hairs and forms a thin film over the whole surface of the body and legs, giving them the appearance of fine polished silver. Like other spiders,Dolomedes breathe with book lungs beneath their abdomens, and these open into the air film, allowing the spiders to breathe while submerged. The trapped air makes them very buoyant and if they do not hold onto a rock or a plant stem they float to the surface where they pop onto the surface film, completely dry.

 

Hunting behavior :

 

Rather than hunting on land or by waiting in a web, these spiders hunt on the water surface itself, preying on mayflies, other aquatic insects, and even small fish.[2][3] For fishing spiders, the water surface serves the same function as a web does for other spiders. They extend their legs onto the surface, feeling for vibrations given off by prey.

 

Dolomedes are nocturnal hunters, feeding when birds, their main predators, are sleeping. The method they use to fish for insects is to hold on to the shore with their back legs while the rest of their body lies on the water, with legs stretched out.Dolomedes species tend to be robust with thickset legs that allow them to tackle prey larger than themselves. They stretch out their front legs and wait, as if listening. Their front legs feel the vibrations carried on the water, just as other spiders feel the 

 

vibrations in a web. They are able to tell what is causing the vibrations that the water is carrying - to distinguish the drawn-out, erratic vibrations of a struggling insect from the one-off vibrations caused by falling leaves or the background noise of the wind or the flow of the water around rocks and other obstacles. As well as identifying the source of the vibrations, the spiders are also able to discern the distance to and direction of the source. To this end they have a range of vibration-detecting organs, including very sensitive hairs (trichobothria) on their legs and feet. Their eyes play a secondary role - experiments on related species show that touch is the main sense these spiders use to catch their prey. Their eyes are of little use for nocturnal hunting. These vibration detectors also serve to warn the spider of predators such as trout.

 

As soon as the vibrations reveal that there is a floundering insect within range, some fishing spiders may take direct action - they run at pace across the surface of the water and grab the insect before it extracts itself from the water and flies to safety. Some fishing spiders use silkdraglines to prevent themselves from speeding past the prey.

 

One researcher, Michelle Greenwood, fed a large moth to a small juvenile fishing spider and observed its behaviour: "On my first fieldtrip I discovered the fun of hand feeding them. I caught a large moth and offered it, struggling in my fingers, to a relatively small juvenile fishing spider.[citation needed] The spider daintily took it, moved itself to dry land and proceeded to eat. I watched this process for almost half an hour; fascinated by the way the spider stood on the tips of its articulated legs and deftly manoeuvred the moth with its mouthparts. She then delicately cleaned all her legs, passing each between her fangs; carefully scraping them clean before wiping each front leg over her eyes." The spider then returned to the riverside to await further victims.

 

Fishing spiders' main prey is aquatic insects, but they are opportunistic feeders and will eat anything suitable that happens within range. Dolomedes in North America have been observed catching and eating small goldfish.[4]

 

Predators :

 

The main predators of fishing spiders are birds and snakes. Dragonflies have also been observed catching young spiders. Species parasitic on the spiders include a wasp of the Pompilidae family that stings the spider to paralyse it before carrying it off and laying an egg in its abdomen. The larvae of the wasp hatch and proceed to eat the spider from the inside out. One escape technique the spiders use is to disappear beneath the surface tension of the water. However some wasps counter the disappearing trick by going into the water to sting the spider and drag them out of the water.

 

The North American species D. triton has been observed jumping to get away from an attacking frog. The researchers[who?] concluded that the spider's vibration-detecting hairs felt the rush of air as the frog lunged to attack.

 

Breeding :

 

The males outnumber the females 3:1 suggesting a male-biased sex ratio. Mating always results in the death of the male by self-sacrifice, with no obvious involvement from the female.[5]They breed in groups called orgyls. One male will spray its semen all over the female.d species Dolomedes schauinslandi or Rangatira spider occurs in the Chatham Islands, where it occurs on rodent-free islands where running water is rare. The fourth species, D. minor, is also not restricted to rivers. Known as the Nursery Web Spider, it makes white nursery webs on shrubs, but is still capable of fishing behaviour.

 

 

Species:

D. albineus
D. aquaticus
D. fimbriatus
D. gertschi
D. holti
D. minor
D. okefinokensis
D. plantarius
D. scriptus
D. striatus
D. sulfureus
D. tenebrosus
D. triton
D. vittatus
 many more

 

Like other spiders Dolomedes have eight eyes, but their sense of touch is more important when it comes to detecting prey by their vibrations on the surface of the water.

 

Fishing spider with its prey, aCameroon Clawed Frog tadpole

 

A male shows the typical hunting stance of Dolomedes minor

 

A female Dolomedes minor guards her egg sac

 

The Rangatira spider Dolomedes schauinslandi is most commonly seen on dead trees.

 

Distribution :

 

- North America :

 

Nine species of Dolomedes exist in North America. The six-spotted fishing spider (D. triton) lives primarily in small lakes and ponds. This spider consumes mostly water striders (pond skaters), but like all Dolomedes, it is an opportunistic ambush hunter that will eat anything that it can capture. Other species include the bog-dwelling D. striatus, and four species living by streams: D. scriptus, D. vittatus, D. gertschi and D. holti. Two North American species, D. tenebrosus and D. okefinokensis, exhibit female giganticism and/or male dwarfism, with their males being less than half the size of the females. The ninth species is the arboreal D. albineus.

 

- Europe  :

 

Two Dolomedes species occur in Europe. The raft spider (D. fimbriatus) is widespread on the surface of bog pools and in boggy grassland. Thegreat raft spider, (D. plantarius) lives in fens, and is listed as endangered in Great Britain and is globally vulnerable.

 

- New Zealand : 

 

See also: Spiders of New Zealand 

 

Four species occur in New Zealand. Two are widespread: the large Dolomedes aquaticus of open riverbanks, and another as yet undescribed species of similar size, specialising in forested riverbanks; this is known as Dolomedes III or the New Zealand forest fishing spider. The largest of the New Zealand species Dolomedes schauinslandi or Rangatira spider occurs in the Chatham Islands, where it occurs on rodent-free islands where running water is rare. The fourth species, D. minor, is also not restricted to rivers. Known as the Nursery Web Spider, it makes white nursery webs on shrubs, but is still capable of fishing behaviour.

 

References  ( Check the original article

 

Jumping Spider - Sitticus palustris

 

The Jumping Spider  is a diurnal animal with excellent eyesight, that pursues its prey and leaps upon it. It has an all-round view of its surroundings because of its large, central, front eyes. It is about the size of a 20c piece when fully grown, with pin size legs. There are many different species but all jump and turn their heads separately from their bodies to look at objects. They live in houses and gardens and are most common in Summer, Australia wide. It is a roving spider but hangs from web lines at night. It rarely bites people and causes only mild local pain.

 

 

 

Flower Spider - Thomisus spectabilis. 

 

Another name for the Flower Spider is the Crab Spider because it has white or yellow stout legs which are held like a crab. The full size of the Flower Spider is between four and ten millimetres. Flower Spiders are often white or yellow in colour, some have green, brown or rosy tints on the abdomen. The females are small and their legs are less than 7mm long. The males are even smaller, but their legs are longer. They
normally have two large front eyes and have very well developed eyesight. One species of crab spider is the Goldenrod Spider.

 

Parson Spider

 

The parson spider is a nuisance in homes and is generally non-toxic; although some people may experience allergic reactions to the bites. The parson spider is about 1/2 inch long and may vary in colour from brown to black. The front segment of the body tends to be a chestnut colour, while the abdomen is greyish with a distinctive white or pink pattern along its middle. The body is covered with fine hairs, giving a velvety appearance. The parson spider is usually found outdoors under rocks or in piles of brush or firewood. This spider does not spin a web, but wanders on the ground in search of prey.  Indoors, this spider wanders about at night and conceals itself beneath objects or in clothing during the day. Most bites from this spider occur at night or when it is trapped in clothing. While the parson spider is not considered venomous, bite symptoms are variable in severity. Some people may experience localized allergic swelling and itching in addition to initial pain. A few persons may experience excessive swelling, nervousness, nausea, sweating and elevated temperatures from the bites. 

 

Parson Spider Eats Fly

 

Herpyllus ecclesiasticus Eastern Parson Spider​

 

Green Lynx Spider - Peucetia viridans 

 

Lynx spiders get their name from the way that they sometimes pounce on their prey in a catlike fashion. These spiders spend their time hunting for insects in bushes and low plants. They are fast runners, but can occasionally be seen lying in wait for prey beside flowers.

 

They build no web for prey capture, but they do release a silk dragline as they hunt among leaves. 
While the Green Lynx spider aggressively attacks its insect prey, it very seldom bites humans.

 

Other Spiders as a pet .. Introduction and keeping 

 

Other spiders Species :  Common Australian Spiders  1   ...  2  ....  3

      

                                           Common United States Spiders and Americas  1   ...  2  ....  3

                                            

Other Spiders as a pet .. Introduction and keeping 

 

Other spiders Species :  Common Australian Spiders  1   ...  2  ....  3

      

                                           Common United States Spiders and Americas  1   ...  2  ....  3

                                            

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