Zebra hunting spider
| Zebra hunting spider | ||||||||||||
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Zebra hunting spider ( Viridasius fasciatus ), male |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Viridasius | ||||||||||||
| Simon , 1889 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Viridasius fasciatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Lenz , 1886) |
The zebra hunting spider ( Viridasius fasciatus ) is the only species of the thus monotypical genus Viridasius within the family Viridasiidae . The species is not to be confused with the zebra jumping spider ( Salticus scenicus ) from the jumping spider family, which has a similar name .
features
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The body length of the female can be about 20 to 25 millimeters, that of the male is usually shorter. The leg span of both sexes can reach up to about eight centimeters, but the legs of the female are shaped like the rest of the body. The body structure of the zebra hunting spider is similar to that of the comb spiders , to which it was also counted in the past. This also applies to the position of the well-developed eyes. Similar to the closely related comb spiders, the zebra hunting spider is also extremely long-legged, which allows it to benefit from high agility and speed. The coloring of the species, which consists of a white basic color, is striking. Prosoma and opisthosoma are provided with several black spots and speckles that give both body parts a mosaic-like appearance. The legs are alternately black and white striped.
Occurrence
The zebra hunting spider is endemic to Madagascar and mainly inhabits trees and caves.
Way of life
The nocturnal zebra hunting spider mostly spends the day in webs of living space and leaves it when it gets dark. Then the spider catches prey, with younger spiders also actively hunting during the day during investigations. As with most other spiders of the superfamily Lycosoidea, prey is caught without a safety net. The zebra hunting spider is also a lurker who grabs potential prey by surprise and then injects poison before the prey is consumed. Prey animals and possible predators are located visually or by means of the sense of vibration.
Reproduction
The reproductive behavior of the zebra hunting spider is similar to that of other spiders in the superfamily, which also includes courtship behavior . In this case, a male willing to mate feeds a sexually mature female and then performs a rhythmic drumming with his legs. The female may hesitate for some time before reacting. If it is not willing to mate, it tries to scare away the courting male. When it is ready to mate, it raises its front legs. In this case the male climbs the top of the female and alternately guides his bulb into the female's egipyne every 20 to 30 seconds. The entire pairing, including courtship, takes about half an hour. Then the male is chased away by the female, but cannibalism is rare. The male dies within a few weeks after mating. Several months after mating, the female creates several cocoons (in one study there were three, the last one containing no eggs), which are pendulum-shaped and hung from a suitable surface with a thread. The dimensions of a cocoon include a length of 15, a width of 15 to 18 and a height of 12 to 14 millimeters. To protect them from predators and parasites, the female also provides the cocoons with elements of the soil substrate in order to camouflage them. The cocoons are probably not guarded by the female, as she dies shortly after all cocoons have been deposited. Usually 30 to 60 young spiders hatch from a cocoon and grow over several moults. For this purpose, the spiders use protective webs, which are also camouflaged by adding substrate.
Systematics
First descriptor Heinrich Wilhelm Christian Lenz gave the spider the name Phoneutria fasciata in 1886 , thus classifying it as a comb spider in the genus Phoneutria , which also includes spiders that are potentially dangerous for humans, such as the Brazilian wandering spider ( P. nigriventer ). Just three years after the first description, a reorganization took place on the part of the French arachnologist Eugène Simon , who gave the species the name Viridasius pulchripes and thus divided it into the monotypical genus that is valid again today. However, the same author rearranged the zebra hunting spider so that it was called Vulsor fasciatus from there . The Finnish arachnologist Pekka T. Lehtinen renamed the spider again in 1967, giving it the name that is still used today.
Terrariums
The zebra hunting spider enjoys great popularity in terrariums due to its striking appearance. Available offspring simplify the sale and keeping of the species. It is robust and easy to keep, but the owner should consider its speed and nocturnal lifestyle. Such species like to spend the day in the web and cannot be observed. There is little information about the poisonous effect of the bite, but the species is more shy than aggressive. There are two cultivated forms of the zebra hunting spider on sale. One is the somewhat smaller forest form (" Viridasius spec. Sylvestris "), the other is the somewhat larger and sometimes less contrasting cave form, which, in contrast to the forest form, is offered less often.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g husbandry report of the zebra hunting spider of Arachnea ( Link (Polish)).
- ↑ a b c d Tobias Bauer, Florian Raub and Hubert Höfer: Notes on the behavior and the pendulous egg-sacs of Viridasius sp. (Araneae: Viridasiidae). Journal of Arachnology 46, pp. 155–158, 2018. (Report on the lifestyle and reproductive behavior of the zebra hunting spider) ( PDF, English )
- ↑ The zebra hunting spider in the World Spider Catalog ( Link )
literature
- Heinrich Lenz: Contributions to the knowledge of the spider fauna of Madagascar. Zoological yearbooks, journal for systematics, geography and biology of animals 1, 2, pp. 379–408, 1886. (First description, PDF, German )
- Eugène Simon : Histoire naturelle des araignées. Vol. 1, pp. 1–256, Paris 1892. ( p. 131 facsimile)
- Pekka Taisto Lehtinen : Classification of the cribellate spiders and some allied families, with notes on the evolution of the suborder Araneomorpha. Annales Zoologici Fennici, 4, pp. 199-468, 1967.
