Leucorchestris arenicola

Leucorchestris arenicola (commonly called the dancing white lady spider) is a huntsman spider found in the deserts of Namibia. It should not be confused with the similarly named wheel spider from the same locale.[1][2] It relies on seismic vibrations for communication.[1] It taps its foremost legs on the sand to send messages to other white lady spiders.[1] Male white lady spiders will travel more than a mile in one night searching for a mate.[1] If they do find a mate, they must be extremely careful, for drumming the wrong message can be deadly.[1] The species was first described by Reginald Frederick Lawrence in 1962, who described all the species in the genus Leucorchestris.[2]

For other uses, see White Lady (disambiguation).

Leucorchestris arenicola
White lady spider in Namibia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Sparassidae
Genus: Leucorchestris
Species:
L. arenicola
Binomial name
Leucorchestris arenicola
Lawrence, 1962
Synonyms
  • Leucorchestris kochi

References
  1. Henschel, Joh R. (2002). "Long-Distance Wandering and Mating by the Dancing White Lady Spider (Leucorchestris Arenicola) (Araneae, Sparassidae) Across Namib Dunes". Journal of Arachnology. 30 (2): 321–30. doi:10.1636/0161-8202(2002)030[0321:LDWAMB]2.0.CO;2.
  2. Platnick, Norman I. (June 24, 2014). "Sparassidae". The World Spider Catalog, Version 15. American Museum of Natural History.


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