The bowl and doily spider (Frontinella pyramitela) is a species of sheet weaver found in North and Central America.[1] It is a small spider, about 4 mm (0.16 in) long, that weaves a fairly complex and unique sheet web system consisting of an inverted dome shaped web, or "bowl," suspended above a horizontal sheet web, or "doily", hence its common name. The spider hangs from the underside of the "bowl", and bites through the web small flies, gnats and other small insects that fall down into the non-sticky webbing. The webs are commonly seen in weedy fields and in shrubs, and may often contain both a male and a female spider in late summer—like many linyphiids, Frontinella males and females may cohabitate for some time. Males exhibit competition for female mates both by fighting and sperm competition. Uniquely, these spiders exhibit behavioral thermoregulation and have lengthened circadian rhythms.
| Bowl and doily spider | |
|---|---|
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| Female | |
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| Male | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Linyphiidae |
| Genus: | Frontinella |
| Species: | F. pyramitela
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| Binomial name | |
| Frontinella pyramitela (Walckenaer, 1841)[1]
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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Taxonomy
editFrontinella pyramitela was first described by Charles Walckenaer in 1841. In 1850, Nicholas Hentz described a spider which he named Linyphia communis. Both were later regarded as the same species, with Frontinella communis being a junior synonym.[1]
Description
edit
F. pyramitela are small (4 mm, or 0.15 in) and are typically a reddish-brown color, with more yellowish colored legs. Their abdomen displays decorative white dots along the sides and has short hairs.[2]
Habitat and distribution
editThese spiders are found in a large variety of habitats and climates. Some of their more common habitat sites include temperate woods and alpine forests, though they can also be found in more tropical, humid areas.[2] They are most commonly found in North America, often in the United States.[3]
The spiders are most active from May through June, and then again in September.[4]
Diet
editTypical prey and prey capture
editThe spiders typically eat small insects, such as gnats or small flies that fall down into its web. Once the prey falls into the web, the spider will bite the prey and inject its venom into it in order to immobilize the prey. The spider then pulls the prey into the "bowl" of its web and may consume it.[2]
Prey memory
editFrontinella pyramitela is likely able to retain a memory of their past prey. After prey are removed from their nests, the spiders typically search for the lost prey, with more effort being exerted if the prey was larger. The spiders are able to distinguish between the lost prey that they are looking for and other old prey remnants. Thus, it has been suggested that F. pyramitela are able to remember previous information about prey, including size and quality.[5]
Webs
editWeb design
editThe spiders' webs have an unusual design. The spiders weave a fairly complex sheet web system consisting of an inverted dome-shaped web, or "bowl," suspended above a horizontal sheet web, or "doily." The spider hangs from the underside of the "bowl," and bites through the web prey that falls down into the non-sticky webbing. This web design allows the spider to survey its prey below the web while remaining above in a protected location. The webs are commonly seen in weedy fields and in shrubs.
Cohabitation
editThe majority of spider species are solitary; it is, therefore, unique that F. pyramitela exhibit cohabitation between males and females. In these spiders, males rarely build webs and thus rely upon female snares for fodder. Male spiders typically stay at a female's nest for much longer than the time necessary for copulation. The time that males eventually do leave the female's nest is randomly determined and not linked to specific events. Female identity and recent prey capture by the male may influence the length of time the male stays with the female. [6] [7]
Reproduction and life cycle
editDeterminants of female fecundity
editThe major determinants of Frontinella pyramitela fecundity in females are female longevity, foraging success, and size. After each clutch of eggs is birthed, resulting fecundity in the mother decreases, most significantly after the second clutch is delivered. Early mortality significantly affects the spider's lifetime fecundity.[8]
Life extension by dietary restriction
editFemale F. pyramitela spiders tend to live longer lives when they have a more restricted food diet. Despite this, when the spiders have more restricted diets, they also have decreased overall fecundity and delay their egg laying.[9]
Mating
editCourtship practices
editThe courtship practices of this spider are known to be both lengthy and elaborate and can be divided into the pre-mount and the mount phases. When the male first arrives on the female's web, she often exhibits predatory behavior which ends upon the initiation of courtship by the male. Many behaviors in the courtship between males and females produce web-borne vibrations that in turn effect the movement and behavior of the recipient. It is suggested that these unique courtship behaviors function to help spiders of the F. pyramitela species to recognize one another, suppress female aggression, and facilitate the stimulation and synchronization of mating.[4]
Pre-copulation
editBefore copulating and building a sperm nest, male spiders will assess a female's virginity. If the male determines that the female is a virgin, he will then fill his pedipalps with sperm and begin insemination. The male assesses a female's virginity by a signal given by the female. Females can only send the signal if they are virgins. There is no signal for a spider that has already copulated.[10]
Copulation
editTypically, the male is the one who terminates copulation; females rarely end copulation mid-way through the event. Due to this, females are usually receptive to mating for their entire adult lives. The exception to this rule is when they are about to deposit an egg sac.[11] They tend to copulate for significantly longer than the required fifteen minutes. One explanation of the purpose of this lengthened copulation time is that longer copulations result in larger hatchlings.[12]
Pheromones
editMale courtship of females has been linked to chemical pheromone release. This pheromone is specific to the Frontinella pyramitela species, distinct from other similar spiders' pheromones. The pheromones are released by mature females only. These pheromones have the dual functions of both letting males know that the female spider is ready to mate, as well as making the female appear more attractive to the male. It is the pheromone itself that attracts the male, not the actual physical presence of the female spider.[13]
Male competition over mates
editMale spiders are known to fight over access to potential female mates. The longer that these fights between males go on, the higher the risk that the males will injure, or even kill one another. When the value of a female is considered equal to two males (determined by war of attrition game theory), the male with the larger body size tends to win. The most common incidents of injury amongst males were found in smaller body sized males who were defending a female that he valued greatly.[14]
Sperm competition
editSperm competition, which is a post-copulatory occurrence, occurs in F. pyramitela. Because females can mate with multiple males, male competition for female mates occurs even after the physical mating is done, as the sperms must then compete for fertilization inside the female reproductive tract. The male who mates first with the female has a much higher chance of giving the sperm which will get fertilized. The male who mates second may have a small chance of fertilizing a few eggs within the clutch. F. pyramitela thus exhibit first male sperm priority.[11]
Enemies
editWhen forced to share a habitat with the nonnative European spider species Linyphia triangularis, Frontinella pyramitela were found to abandon their nests and decrease their nest building in areas where L. triangularis was present. L. triangularis sometimes took over F. pyramitela's web materials, web site, or even the web itself, but F. pyramitela's never did the same to L. triangularis. [15]
Physiology
editBehavioral thermoregulation
editFrontinella pyramitela regulates its behavior based on the positioning of the sun. On days when insolation and ambient temperatures are high, the spiders will align themselves with sun rays. The spider is able to change its body temperature by .5 degrees Celsius by aligning itself with sun rays when compared to when its body is perpendicular to sun rays. It is not likely that this behavior functions to help the spider regulate its body temperature. Instead, the proposed function of this behavior is to depress the spider's metabolic rate so that the body knows to move nutrients from maintenance use to reproductive use.[16]
Circadian rhythm
editThis spider has been found to deviate from the traditional 24 hour circadian rhythm, opposing the circadian resonance hypothesis. Frontinella pyramitela runs on a 28.2-hour clock, with high variability in clock length, ranging from 24 hours to 33 hours. The spiders' clock time helps determine their behavior at different hours of the day and varies throughout different seasons of the year. The significance of this long clock length is still under investigation.[17]
Interactions with humans
editWhen exposed to a sublethal dose of the neurotoxic pesticide malathion, the normal diet periodicities, time budgets, and patterns of locomotion all shifted in Frontinella pyramitela. This is likely due to malathion's action as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Malathion has been shown to likely reduce the species' efficiency as agents of biological control.[18]
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Taxon details Frontinella pyramitela (Walckenaer, 1841)", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2019-02-23
- ^ a b c "Bowl and Doily Weaver Spider". www.insectidentification.org. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ "Frontinella pyramitela (Bowl and Doily Weaver) - Spider Identification & Pictures". spiderid.com. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ a b Suter, Robert B. & Renkes, Gregg (1984). "The courtship of Frontinella pyramitela (Araneae, Linyphiidae): patterns, vibrations and functions". The Journal of Arachnology. 12 (1): 37–54. JSTOR 3705101.
- ^ Rodríguez, Rafael L. & Gloudeman, Matthew D. (2011). "Estimating the repeatability of memories of captured prey formed by Frontinella communis spiders (Araneae: Linyphiidae)". Animal Cognition. 14 (5): 675–682. doi:10.1007/s10071-011-0402-9. PMID 21519902. S2CID 3164270.
- ^ Suter, Robert B. & Walberer, Lauren (1989-03-01). "Enigmatic cohabitation in bowl and doily spiders, Frontinella pyramitela (Araneae, Linyphiidae)". Animal Behaviour. 37: 402–409. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(89)90087-0. S2CID 53146356.
- ^ Suter, R. B. (1985). Intersexual Competition for Food in the Bowl and Doily Spider, Frontinella pyramitela (Araneae, Linyphiidae). The Journal of Arachnology, 13(1), 61–70. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3705231
- ^ Suter, Robert B. (1990). "Determinants of fecundity in Frontinella pyramitela (Araneae, Linyphiidae)". The Journal of Arachnology. 18 (3): 263–269. JSTOR 3705432.
- ^ Austad, Steven N. (1989-01-01). "Life extension by dietary restriction in the bowl and doily spider, Frontinella pyramitela". Experimental Gerontology. 24 (1): 83–92. doi:10.1016/0531-5565(89)90037-5. PMID 2707314. S2CID 33835099.
- ^ Suter, Robert B. (1990-02-01). "Courtship and the assessment of virginity by male bowl and doily spiders". Animal Behaviour. 39 (2): 307–313. doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80875-9. S2CID 53157676.
- ^ a b Austad, Steven N. (1982). "First male sperm priority in the bowl and doily spider, Frontinella pyramitela (Walckenaer)". Evolution. 36 (4): 777–785. doi:10.2307/2407891. JSTOR 2407891. PMID 28568225.
- ^ Suter, R. B. & Parkhill, V. S. (1990-05-01). "Fitness consequences of prolonged copulation in the bowl and doily spider". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 26 (5): 369–373. doi:10.1007/BF00171104. S2CID 36820821.
- ^ Suter, R. B. & Renkes, Gregg (1982-08-01). "Linyphid spider courtship: Releaser and attractant functions of a contact sex pheromone". Animal Behaviour. 30 (3): 714–718. doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(82)80142-5. S2CID 54426242.
- ^ Austad, Steven N. (1983-02-01). "A game theoretical interpretation of male combat in the bowl and doily spider (Frontinella pyramitela)". Animal Behaviour. 31 (1): 59–73. doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(83)80173-0. S2CID 53163118.
- ^ Bednarski, Julie; Ginsberg, Howard & Jakob, Elizabeth M. (2010-04-01). "Competitive interactions between a native spider (Frontinella communis, Araneae: Linyphiidae) and an invasive spider (Linyphia triangularis, Araneae: Linyphiidae)". Biological Invasions. 12 (4): 905–912. Bibcode:2010BiInv..12..905B. doi:10.1007/s10530-009-9511-7. S2CID 43659233.
- ^ Suter, Robert B. (1981-04-01). "Behavioral thermoregulation: Solar orientation in Frontinella communis (Linyphiidae), a 6-mg spider". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 8 (2): 77–81. doi:10.1007/BF00300818. S2CID 20851835.
- ^ Crain, Shae; Jones, Thomas & Moore, Darrell (2019-04-12). "Average Free-Running Period in Spider (Frontinella communis) Peaks and Desynchronizes Throughout its Active Season". Appalachian Student Research Forum.
- ^ Tietjen, William J. & Cady, Alan B. (August 2007). "Sublethal exposure to a neurotoxic pesticide affects activity rhythms and patterns of four spider species". The Journal of Arachnology. 35 (2): 396–406. doi:10.1636/S04-62.1. S2CID 54064019.
External links
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