Web construction ofLinothele macrothelifera(Araneae: Dipluridae)

Abstract

Direct behavioral observations, plus deductions made from studying the lines in recently built webs, showed that Linothele macwlhelifera Strand 1 908 lays swaths of lines in relatively stereotypic ways that differ during sheet web and tube construction. Sheet construction occurs in brief bursts interspersed with returns to the retreat. The legs are not used to manipulate lines; the spinnerets attach lines to the substrate and are probably used as sense organs. Asymmetrical use of the spinnerets during sheet construction results in an increase in the variety of orientations of lines in the sheet.

Phylogenetic Systematics and Evolution of the Spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae Using Genomic Scale Data

“…As already pointed out by Coyle (1971) and Eskov and Zonshtein (1990), the traits related to the morphology of the spinnerets are likely correlated to the type of foraging structure produced by the spiders. "Diplurids" generally build conspicuous three-dimensional sheet-like webs with a funnel-like retreat (Coyle 1988;Coyle and Ketner 1990;Coyle 1995;Eberhard and Hazzi 2013;Passanha and Brescovit 2018), a trait present in many other mygalomorph taxa that have little to no evolutionary proximity to diplurids (e.g., Mecicobothriidae (Gertsch 1979), Macrothelidae (Snazell and Allison 1989;Shimojana and Haupt 1998), Atracidae (Gray 2010), and is also paralleled in araneomorph funnel-web spider family Agelenidae (Nentwig 1983). With the results of our phylogenetic analyses, it seems safe to assume that spinneret morphology is a plastic trait that has little to no informative value for higher-level classification in mygalomorph spiders.…”

Aspects of the activity rhythm and population size of troglophilic mygalomorph spiders (Trechonasp., Dipluridae) in a quartzite cave in Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…According to Pedroso and Cerqueira-Baptista (2004), they usually cover the hole with a silk veil and no sheet-web is built. This web architecture differs from those of other diplurid genera, that build a web composed of two functionally distinct parts, a tubular retreat in an enclosed space and an exposed capture web (sheet-web) (Coyle 1995;Eberhard and Hazzi 2013). Spiders of the genus Trechona have been recorded in the Atlantic Forest, in Brazil, from the states of Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul (Pedroso 2009;Azevedo and Pedroso 2010).…”

Funnel-web construction and estimated immune costs inAglaoctenus lagotis(Araneae: Lycosidae)

“…Aglaoctenus lagotis shares with the mygalomorph spiders Dipluridae and Hexathelidae (also funnel-web weavers) (Foelix 2011) the asymmetric use of the spinnerets during weaving, although they differ in the glands involved in threads adhesion (Eberhard & Hazzi 2013). Moreover, at least in the diplurids, the behaviors performed during the construction of the sheet are different from those performed during the construction of the tube, unlike A. lagotis that performs DTT and DFT during the construction of all parts of the web (sheet, tube).…”

“…Some webs have threads above the sheet that intercept flying insects (intercepting threads), causing them to fall onto the sheet (Foelix 2011). How the funnels are woven is almost unknown (Rojas 2011;Eberhard & Hazzi 2013) because most of the information comes from spiders with orb webs (Eberhard 1990), or with irregular webs (Benjamin & Zschokke 2002). Rojas (2011) has reported one detailed description of the weaving process in an agelenid, but no descriptions are reported in wolf spiders, excepting limited data provided by Prestwich (1977) for Sosippus janus Brady 1972.…”