Meta bourneti

Meta bourneti is an orb weaving cave spider closely related to Meta menardi.[1]

Meta bourneti
Female Mera bourneti on its egg sac.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Arachnida
Order:
Araneae
Suborder:
Araneomorphae
Family:
Tetragnathidae
Subfamily:
Metinae
Genus:
Meta
Species:
M. bourneti
Binomial name
Meta bourneti
Simon, 1922

Morphology

Big sized spider (body length male: 10–13 mm; female: 13–16 mm), very similar in the external morphology to the congeneric Meta menardi. The prosoma is red-brown, with darker margin. Legs are red-brown. The opisthosoma is yellowish, laterally often completely black.[2]

Ecology

Usually found in caves, in the twilight-zone. The species show a preference for cave walls and roofs, where it spin its orb-web. M. bourneti is able to consume a wide variety of prey items, including dipterans, moths, centipedes, woodlouse, and other cave-dwelling spiders.[3]

Phenology

Female and juveniles are observed all year round. Males are rare, and usually found from August to December.

The eggsac (cocoon) is white, drop-shaped, and very similar to that of M. menardi (see [4]). It is usually laid in the proximity of the cave entrance between October and November. The spiderlings hatch from the cocoon between January and February.[3]

Distribution

It is found from Europe to Georgia and North Africa.[5]

References
  1. "Rare spider species found in Highgate Cemetery vaults". BBC News. 20 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  2. "Meta bourneti – araneae". www.araneae.unibe.ch. Retrieved 2016-05-25.
  3. Mammola, Stefano; Isaia, Marco (2014-01-01). "Niche differentiation in Meta Bourneti and M. menardi (Araneae, Tetragnathidae) with notes on the life history". International Journal of Speleology. 43 (3): 343–353. doi:10.5038/1827-806x.43.3.11. ISSN 0392-6672.
  4. Chiavazzo, Eliodoro; Isaia, Marco; Mammola, Stefano; Lepore, Emiliano; Ventola, Luigi; Asinari, Pietro; Pugno, Nicola Maria (2015-01-05). "Cave spiders choose optimal environmental factors with respect to the generated entropy when laying their cocoon". Scientific Reports. 5: 7611. doi:10.1038/srep07611. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5154591. PMID 25556697.
  5. Platnick, N.I. (2007). "The world spider catalog". version 7.5. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 20 January 2013.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.