Bolas spiders

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Bolas spiders
Cladomelea debeeri

Cladomelea debeeri

Systematics
Class : Arachnids (arachnida)
Order : Spiders (Araneae)
Superfamily : Orb web spiders (Araneoidea)
Family : Real orb web spiders (Araneidae)
Subfamily : Cyrtarachninae
Tribe : Bolas spiders
Scientific name
Mastophoreae
Mello-Leitão , 1931

The bola or lasso spiders ( Tribus Mastophoreae) belong to the family of real orb web spiders (Araneidae). There are three types known worldwide; the Ordgarius occurring in Australia , Cladomelea from Africa and the genus Mastophora from North America. A total of 66 species are included in this group.

Way of life

All three genera have a special method of prey hunting, on the basis of which these spiders got their name. In contrast to their relatives, the orb web spiders, Bolas do not produce webs, but spin a single thread with a ball of slime at the end. The content of this slime ball is filled with a special pheromone (sex attractant), which has an effect on very specific prey. The spider imitates a potential sexual partner with the help of the pheromone ball. A conscious pretense of false facts (here that of a sexual partner) is also known in the animal kingdom as mimicry .

As soon as a lured prey animal is in the vicinity of the spider, the insect tries to capture the insect with the help of the slime ball (similar to a bola lasso, hence the name) by throwing the spider thread on the forelegs towards the prey. The prey is caught in the sticky secretion of the thread, whereupon the spider then spins the prey.

Systematics

  • Mastophora (American Bolaspiders, 48 ​​species)
  • Cladomelea (African Bolaspiders, four species)
  • Ordgarius (Australasian Bolaspiders, 12 species)

literature

  • KF Haynes, C. Gemeno, KV Yeargan, JG Millarund, KM Johnson: Aggressive chemical mimicry of moth pheromones by a bolas spider. In: Chemoecology. 2002, pp. 99-105.
  • C. Gemeno, KV Yeargan, KF Haynes: Aggressive Chemical Mimicry by the Bolas Spider Mastophora hutchinsoni: Identification and Quantification of a Major Prey's Sex Pheromone Components in the Spider's Volatile Emissions. In: Journal of Chemical Ecology. Volume 26, No. 5, 2000, pp. 1235-1243.
  • KV Yeargan: Biology of Bolas Spiders. In: Annual Review of Entomology. Volume 39, 1994, pp. 81-99.
  • N. Scharff, JA Coddington: A phylogenetic analysis of the orb-weaving spider family Araneidae (Arachnida, Araneae). In: Zool. J. Linn. Soc. Volume 120, 1997, pp. 355-434.
  • W. Wickler: Mimicry. Imitation and deception in nature. Kindler Verlag, Munich 1968, ISBN 3-463-00469-0 .
  • K. Lunau: Warning, camouflaging, deceiving. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2002, ISBN 3-534-14633-6 .

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