Leopard vole wolf
| Leopard vole wolf | ||||||||||||
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Leopard Volesus ( Arctosa leopardus ), female |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Arctosa leopardus | ||||||||||||
| ( Sundevall , 1833) |
The leopard wolf or the leopard spider ( Arctosa leopardus ), also called leopard or leopard she-bear and moss-wolf spider , is a spider from the family of the (wolf spiders). The species is widespread in the Palearctic and is one of the more common voles ( Arctosa ).
features
The female of the leopard wolf reaches a body length of 8.5 to ten millimeters and the male one of five to seven millimeters, making the leopard wolf one of the medium-sized species of the voles and also one of the comparatively large wolf spiders in Central Europe . The prosoma (front body) in the female is 2.9 to 4.1 millimeters long and in the male three to 4.1 millimeters.
The carapace (back shield of the prosoma) is colored red to dark brown. Unlike other voles ( Arctosa ), it has less noticeable median and lateral stripes made up of white hairs. The latter are composed of four to five spots. The carapace often appears shiny and is not infrequently covered with thick hair. The chelicerae and the head region appear black to gray. The sternum is dark in color and has light spots opposite the coxae (hip joints).
The legs of the leopard wolf are pale brown in color and have dark ringlets. The tibiae (splints) of the first pair of legs are provided with a pair of ventral spines, while those of the second have only a single ventral spine. But there is still a pair of spines on the apical side.
The opisthosoma (abdomen) of the species is usually dark brown to black in color. In the male, however, it can also be conspicuously yellow. Its median side is provided with a narrow, arrow-shaped and yellow colored longitudinal stripe in the heart region. Further back there are two rows of yellow-greenish and two pairs of dark spots. The areas between the points can be gray or rarely also bluish in color. The ventral side shows a dark gray area on a lighter background, which is constricted in the middle. The entire opisthosoma is covered with fine hairs.
Structure of the sexual organs
As with other spiders, the leopard Wühlwolf is characterized by genital morphological features of the bulbi (male sexual organs) and the epigyne (female sexual organ), which can also be used for more precise identification.
Structure of the Bulbi
The size of the compact spherical and simply built bulbi and that of the approximately 0.25 millimeter long median apophyses ( chitinized appendages ) of the leopard voles are slightly influenced by the length of the prosoma. However, the length of the tibia of the pedipalps (transformed extremities in the head area) and that of the cymbii (third to last limb of the bulb) are more strongly influenced by this.
The largest segment of a single globe in this species is the smooth tegulum (penultimate segment) with no ventral protrusion. The median apophysis, which runs transversely and retrolaterally at the edge of the alveolus and ends in a long, curved hook, is connected over a large area to the tegulum. The median apophysis has a ventrally applied, tooth-like and laterally rounded process on the third basal half, which is also toothed on the basal side. On the distal side, the median apophysis is hollowed out into a flat, apically narrowing canal with sharply sclerotized edges.
The palea rests on the distal side of the median abophysis. It is a shield-shaped, broad and light-colored sclerite that sits on the distal hematodocha and lies flat in the non-expanded state. The palea carries the terminal apparatus consisting of the embolus and the terminal apophysis. On its retrolateral side, the palea has a long, claw-shaped terminal apophysis, the outer branch of which is only formed as a rounded, arched lobe.
The complex embolus is located prolaterally on the palea. Its heavily sclerotized trunk is directed towards the median apophysis and its distal end connects to its dorsal canal. With its spoon-like structure, it supports the apical sclerite, which is shaped like a cannula and forms the separate embolus tip, in which the spermophore, which is embedded in a broad pars pendula, merges laterally with a short curve.
Structure of the epigyne
The epigyne (female genital organ) of the leopard voles is characterized by a simple structure and low sclerotization. It has two separated by a caudal and an orally widening septum, which in turn is bristled.
A single pit in the oral area shows the anterior epigynous pocket, which is vaulted by the edge of the epigyne pit. On the caudal side there is the middle epigynous pocket, which extends laterally-distally to the deepest area of the epigyne and reaches up to the insertion openings. In the caudal area of the epigyne, a further depression can be seen as a posterior epigynous pocket on the lateral edge of the septum.
Similar species
A the leopard Wühlwolf similar type is also to Wühlwölfen ( Arctosa counting) Bunte Sandwühlwolf ( A. perita ) having a similar size and color as the leopard Wühlwolf, but usually is slightly lighter colored. Another similar species is Arctosa fulvolineata , but it is slightly larger than the leopard-ground wolf.
Occurrence
The range of the leopard mincer includes Europe , Egypt , Turkey , the Caucasus , Russia (from the European part to southern Siberia ), Iran and Central Asia . In Europe it is represented in most countries and regions. Evidence of the species is only from Iceland , the western and northern parts of Russia located in Europe and the Kaliningrad Oblast , Bosnia and Herzegovina and Armenia .
In the British Isles , the leopard vole wolf is particularly common in Wales and southern England and elsewhere. In the center and north of the United Kingdom , however, the species is absent in many places.
Habitats
The Leopard Wühlwolf inhabits a multitude of moist habitats, including moist heaths , dune depressions , moors , marshland , poorly shaded banks of standing water, reed meadows, moist natural meadows, salt patches and sometimes also salt meadows.
Threat and protection
The leopard vole wolf is found in many places in Europe and, unlike many other Central European species of vole wolves ( Arctosa ), is not threatened. In the Red List of Threatened Species of Animals, Plants and Fungi in Germany, for example, the species is classified in the " not endangered " category and is therefore not subject to any protection status in Germany . The latter also applies to the United Kingdom, where the stocks of the species are rated by the IUCN with the risk level LC ("least concern").
The IUCN does not count the global populations of the leopard voles.
Way of life
In its preferred habitats, the Leopard Wühlwolf can be found especially on moss and damp litter. In contrast to many other voles, it does not create living tubes lined with a web , but only a web of living under detritus or leaves.
Hunting behavior and catch of prey
Like almost all spiders, the leopard vole wolf lives predatory and, like most wolf spiders, does not create a safety net for the purpose of catching prey, but hunts freely on the ground. Potential prey animals are perceived with the well-developed sense of sight, as is usual with wolf spiders with this hunting method. If they get within range of the spider, it jumps at the prey and makes it unable to escape or fight with the nerve poison injected by the chelicerae .
The prey scheme of the leopard vole wolf includes other arthropods that do not exceed the spider's own dimensions.
Life cycle
The life cycle of the leopard miner is divided into several stages and, as with many species that are common in temperate climates, is also dependent on the seasons.
Phenology
The activity time adult specimens of the leopard-Wühlwolfs covers the period between April and October. Males are particularly common in June. Both sexes gemeimsan are most common between the end of April and June, the females even more frequently than the males thereafter.
Reproduction
The reproductive behavior of the Leopard Wühlwolf corresponds to that of other wolf spiders. A male willing to mate seeks refuge of a species-specific and sexually mature female and, as soon as this has happened, performs a courtship dance that is common for wolf spiders . The mating that takes place when the female is willing to mate is similar to that of other wolf spiders and members of the Lycosoidea family , i.e. H. the male climbs on the prosoma of the female, from there embraces its opisthosoma and introduces the right bulb into the right half of the epigyne of his partner.
Some time after mating, the female makes an egg cocoon , which it also carries with it attached to the spinneret , in accordance with the characteristics of the wolf spider . The hatched young animals then climb onto their mother's opisthosoma and let them carry them for some time before they separate from the mother and grow up on their own. The young hibernate and reach sexual maturity in the following year.
Systematics
The Leopard Wühlwolf was first described by Karl Jakob Sundevall in 1833 and, like all wolf spiders back then, was classified in the genus Lycosa , which gave it the name L. leopardus . The current name Arctosa leopardus was first used in 1856 by Tord Tamerlan Teodor Thorell . The common name for the leopard Wühlwolf was this 1959 under Willi Knülle , when he put the species back into the genus of the voles ( Arctosa ), after Carl Friedrich Roewer had reclassified it four years earlier to the genus Megarctosa under the name M. leopardus had been. Previously, the Leopard Wühlwolf was used by various authors under other names that are no longer valid today.
The species name leopardus comes from the Latin language and refers to the leopard ( Panthera pardus ). In addition, the Latin word is a modification of the ancient Greek λεόπαρδος ( leopardos ), which in turn is composed of λέων ( leon ) for lion and πάρδος ( pardos ) for panther . The species name of the leopard wolf indicates the spider's spotted pattern, similar to that of the big cat.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) from araneae - Spiders of Europe, accessed on July 6, 2020.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l L. Bee, G. Oxford, H. Smith: Britain's Spiders: A Field Guide , Princeton University Press, 2017, p. 230, ISBN 9780691165295 .
- ↑ a b c d e Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at the Wiki der Arachnologische Gesellschaft e. V., accessed on July 6, 2020.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Dieter Martin: Allometry and the structure and function of the copulatory organs in the wolf spider Arctosa leopardus (Araneae, Lycosidae) , Arachnologische Mitteilungen, Volume 50, pp. 107-115, accessed on July 6, 2020.
- ↑ Heiko Bellmann: The cosmos spider guide. Over 400 species in Europe. Kosmos Naturführer, Kosmos (Franckh-Kosmos), 2nd edition, 2016, p. 186, ISBN 978-3-440-14895-2 .
- ↑ a b c d e Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at the British Arachnological Society, accessed July 6, 2020.
- ↑ Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at the Red List Center, accessed on July 6, 2020.
- ^ Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at Global Biodiversity Information Facility , accessed July 6, 2020.
- ↑ Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) in the WSC World Spider Catalog , accessed July 6, 2020.
- ↑ Lemma Leopard from the Etymological Dictionary of German by Wolfgang Pfeifer, accessed on July 6, 2020.
literature
- Heiko Bellmann: The cosmos spider guide. Over 400 species in Europe. Kosmos Naturführer, Kosmos (Franckh-Kosmos), 2nd edition, 2016, ISBN 978-3-440-14895-2 .
- L. Bee, G. Oxford, H. Smith: Britain's Spiders: A Field Guide , Princeton University Press, 2017, ISBN 9780691165295 .
- Dieter Martin: Allometry as well as structure and function of the copulatory organs in the wolf spider Arctosa leopardus (Araneae, Lycosidae) , Arachnologische Mitteilungen, Volume 50, pp. 107-115.
Web links
- Leopard Wühlwolf in the World Spider Catalog
- Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility
- Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at Fauna Europaea
- Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at the Red List Center
- Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at araneae - Spiders of Europe
- Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at the Wiki of the Arachnological Society e. V.
- Arctosa leopardus (Sundevall, 1833) at the British Arachnological Society