Pincer-like thorn spider
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Pincer-like thorn spider ( Macracantha arcuata ) |
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| Macracantha arcuata | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1793) |
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The pincer-like thorn spider ( Macracantha arcuata , Syn . : Gasteracantha arcuata ) is a spider from the family of the real orb web spiders (Araneidae). It lives in Southeast Asia and is widespread as far as eastern India .
description
The pincer-like thorn spider has a flattened, almost trapezoidal abdomen that widens towards the rear. This is very conspicuously colored in red, while the head is glossy black. On the upper side of the heavily chitinated abdomen, it bears four scar-like spots of dark color in the middle. The same teardrop-shaped spots run around this central mark along the edges of the abdomen. The spinnerets lie on the underside on a cone-shaped elevation and are surrounded by a ring-shaped, strongly chitinized structure. The color of this cone is black. The relatively short legs are colored red-brown.
This spider has six pointed, thorn-like spines, of which the two middle spines that attach to the rear corners of the trapezoidal abdomen are very long and curved, so that they form the shape of a pair of pincers (hence the common German name ). The length of these two spines is far greater than the size of the spider. In addition to the conspicuous warning color of this spider, which seems to signal: Caution, I am inedible , there is another signal here. This seems to mean that the spider would be too big and bulky for one of its predators to eat. This warning probably protects it from birds, even if the two pincer-like appendages on the abdomen cannot move against each other and can therefore hardly be used as a weapon. They also break off easily.
The species used to be part of the closely related genus Gasteracantha ( spiny spiders ), as this also has striking colors and various thorn-like outgrowths on the abdomen. In its area of distribution, Macracantha arcuata is the most common species from the group of spiny spiders. It has also been suggested that the spider spiders mimic flowers or fruits with their appearance and thus attract insects. The species Gasteracantha dalyi looks very similar, but it does not have as strongly curved, pincer-like spines as Macracantha arcuata .
Occurrence
The spider is native to Southeast Asia , it lives on Sumatra , Java and Borneo as well as on the Asian continent from the Malay Peninsula via Burma to the Indian state of Assam . Towards the west, it is less common in its range than in the east. She builds her bicycle nets in the branches of the trees of the primary rainforest .
Way of life
The spider builds its large web of webs between smaller branches or in foliage . It can be more than a meter in diameter. In the center there is a free zone at least 15 centimeters wide without the sticky threads of the catch spiral, where the spider sometimes sits. During the day, however, it usually lurks hidden under leaves on a branch to which one of the radial threads of its network leads. There she can perceive the vibrations that occur when an insect gets stuck on the sticky droplets of the spiral trap. Usually small flying insects get caught here . In some cases there are white nodules at the connection points between the radial threads and the catch spiral; these can also be seen at various points on the spiral threads.
Systematics
The spider was described by Johann Christian Fabricius in 1793 as Aranea arcuata . In 1837, Carl Ludwig Koch assigned them to the genus Gasteracantha . Eugène Simon established the genus Macracantha for this species in 1864 , later this was returned as a subgenus to the genus Gasteracantha , but was raised again to the genus in 1974 by emeritus. This genus has only one species and is therefore monotypical.
Others
The spider was already depicted by Ernst Haeckel in his work Kunstformen der Natur , published between 1899 and 1904 . Is set there in accordance with the specific epithet arcuata (of lat . Arcuate , curved, bent) sheet Spiny Spider sting. Because of its bizarre appearance, it was often sent to museums and collections in Europe in the 19th century. Because of its strongly chitinized abdomen, it did not have to be sent as a liquid preparation in alcohol like the other spiders , but could be prepared dry like the beetle collections.
The pincer-like arboreal spider appeared on a Malaysia State postage stamp in December 2009 . It is still referred to as Gasteracantha arcuata . The English vernacular name Curved spiny spider can also be read on the stamp .
Web links
Macracantha in the World Spider Catalog Macracantha arcuata in the World Spider Catalog
- Photo by Macracantha arcuata at richard-seaman.com
- Photo by Macracantha arcuata on Flickr .com
literature
- Barbara and Martin Baehr: Which spider is that? The most famous species in Central Europe. With a special section: Exotic and poisonous spiders in the world. Kosmos Naturführer, Franck Kosmos, 2002, page 138 ISBN 3-4400-9210-0
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred Edmund Brehm (eds.) And Ernst Ludwig Taschenberg : Brehms Thierleben. General knowledge of the animal kingdom, ninth volume, fourth division: Invertebrates, first volume: The insects, millipedes and spiders. Second revised and increased edition, colored edition, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1884, pp. 658–659 Illustration from the article in Brehms Thierleben at Zeno.org
- ↑ Mark E. Hauber: Conspicuous coloration and prey attraction in a stationary predator. Ecological Entomology, 27, pp. 686-691, 2002
- ↑ Friedrich Dahl: The animal spreading herd of the earth and the wave-like spread of the animals. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 51, pp. 261–269, 1920 Scan from Biodiversity Heritage (German)
- ↑ Central Catchment Nature Reserve in Singapore , habitat of the spider with photos
- ↑ Sanjay Molur and Manju Siliwal: Some Observations on the Web of Gasteracantha geminata (Fabricius, 1798) and Macracantha arcuata (Fabricius, 1793). Zoos' Print Journal, 21, 1, pp. 2133–2134, 2006 full text with illustration of a network (PDF, English; 303 kB)
- ^ Sanjay Molur, BA Daniel and Manju Siliwal: First Record of Macracantha arcuata (Fabricius, 1793) (Araneae: Araneidae) from Gibbon wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India. Zoos' Print Journal, 16, 11, pp. 1698, 2004
- ↑ Natural History Museum of the Civic Community of Bern: World Spider Catalog Version 15.5 - Macracantha arcuata . Retrieved September 7, 2014.
- ↑ Friedrich Dahl: The Gasteracanthen of the Berlin Zoological Museum and their geographical distribution. Messages from the Zoological Museum in Berlin, 7, pp. 235–301, 1914
- ↑ Illustration of the stamp from Malaysia for 30 Sen
