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Trichonephila

Trichonephila is a genus of golden orb-weaver spiders that was first described by Friedrich Dahl in 1911, as a subgenus of Nephila.[2] Trichonephila was elevated to a genus by Kuntner et al. in 2019.[3]

Trichonephila
Female Trichonephila clavipes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Nephilidae
Genus: Trichonephila
Dahl, 1911[1]
Type species
T. clavipes
(Linnaeus, 1767)
Species

12, see text

Distribution and habitat

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Trichonephila can be found living in Africa, Oceania, Asia, Central America, the West Indies, South America, and the US' southeastern region and gulf states.[4][5] These spiders like to make webs where prey is fruitful, often in open wooded areas, between tree branches, shrubs, tall grasses, and around light fixtures. Males are more active in the months of July to September, while the females are most active late into fall. [5]

Species

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Trichonephila edulis with a locust caught in its web, Queensland, Australia

As of August 2019 the genus includes twelve species and fourteen subspecies, found in Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas:[1]

Description

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Main article: Spider anatomy

A spider's body comprises two regions: the prosoma or cephalothorax (anterior end) and the opisthosoma or abdomen (posterior end).[5] Both regions are responsible for their own functions and are linked by a narrow stalk called a pedicel.[5] The prosoma is segmented and protected by the sternum, carapace, and a plate on the dorsal and ventral sides.[6] The prosoma houses the central nervous system, and oversees nervous integration, movement and food uptake.[4] Also connected are the eyes, chelicerae, maxilla, sternum, fangs and four leg pairs.[4] The opisthosoma contains the spider's digestive, circulatory, respiratory, and reproductive systems in addition to the spinnerets, which produce silk.[4][6]

Behavior

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Sexual dimorphism

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Female spiders are larger and dominate.[7] One reason for the size difference is that following their mating sequence, the females sometimes cannibalize their mating partner.[8] Male spiders fight over female partners, leaving the dominant spider to mate and potentially be killed by the female. Typically, female spiders choose a small male partner.[8][7]

Courtship

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Courtship dance involves a male mating dance, attempting attract females.[7][8] This dance involves multiple functions. To begin the courtship, a male must find a female’s web and make vibrations to let her know he’s not prey. It is common for the male to be mistaken as prey and eaten alive by the females before they mate.[7] The vibrating reduces the risk of aggravating the female.[9]

Environmental adaptations

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Males are the sex that leaves their webs and seeks a female.[10] Trichonephila webs have a yellow colour due to the xanthurenic acid produced in its silk. It is thought that this colour helps attracti prey.[11] The genus exhibits behavioural adaptations to the heavy rainfall of its tropical ecosystems. Upon heavy rain, the spider hangs off its web from only its fourth pair of legs, which in turn reduces rain impact damage and helps with draining the water off the web.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Gen. Trichonephila Dahl, 1911". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. 2019. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  2. ^ Dahl, F. (1911). "Die Verbreitung der Spinnen spricht gegen eine frühere Landverbindung der Südspitzen unsrer Kontinente". Zoologischer Anzeiger. 37: 270–282.
  3. ^ Kuntner, Matjaž; Hamilton, Chris A.; Cheng, Ren-Chung; Gregorič, Matjaž; Lupše, Nik; Lokovšek, Tjaša; Lemmon, Emily Moriarty; Lemmon, Alan R.; Agnarsson, Ingi; Coddington, Jonathan A.; Bond, Jason E. (2019). "Golden orbweavers ignore biological rules: phylogenomic and comparative analyses unravel a complex evolution of sexual size dimorphism". Systematic Biology. 68 (4): 555–72. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syy082. PMC 6568015. PMID 30517732. S2CID 54562033.
  4. ^ a b c d Bartlett, Troy (2013). "Family Araneidae - Orb Weavers". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  5. ^ a b c d Weems, Jr., H.V. (2001). "golden silk spider". entnemdept.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  6. ^ a b Foelix, Rainer F. (2011). Biology of Spiders. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–49 – via Academia.edu.
  7. ^ a b c d Silva, Amanda Vieira da (2020-02-19). "Web wars: males of the golden orb-web spider Trichonephila clavipes escalate more in contests for mated females and when access to females is easier". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ a b c Vollrath, Fritz; Parker, Geoff A. (1992). "Sexual dimorphism and distorted sex ratios in spiders". Nature. 360 (6400): 156–159. Bibcode:1992Natur.360..156V. doi:10.1038/360156a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4320130.
  9. ^ wignall, anne (2021). "Male courtship reduces the risk of female aggression in web-building spiders but varies in structure". Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  10. ^ Vollrath, Fritz; Selden, Paul (2007-12-01). "The Role of Behavior in the Evolution of Spiders, Silks, and Webs". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 38 (1): 819–846. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.37.091305.110221. ISSN 1543-592X.
  11. ^ Fujiwara, Masayuki; Kono, Nobuaki; Hirayama, Akiyoshi; Malay, Ali D.; Nakamura, Hiroyuki; Ohtoshi, Rintaro; Numata, Keiji; Tomita, Masaru; Arakawa, Kazuharu (2021). "Xanthurenic Acid Is the Main Pigment of Trichonephila clavata Gold Dragline Silk". Biomolecules. 11 (4): 563. doi:10.3390/biom11040563. ISSN 2218-273X. PMC 8070366. PMID 33921320.
  12. ^ Barrantes, Gilbert; Masis, Denisse Sanchez (2021). "Spiders hanging out in the rain". Arachnology. 18 (7): 778–781. doi:10.13156/arac.2020.18.7.778. ISSN 2050-9928. S2CID 232210498.
 

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