Menemerus bivittatus

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Menemerus bivittatus
Menemerus.bivittatus.male.-.tanikawa.jpg
Male
Menemerus bivittatus 27138620.jpg
Female
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Salticinae
Genus: Menemerus
Species:
M. bivittatus
Binomial name
Menemerus bivittatus
Dufour, 1831
Synonyms
  • Salticus bivittatusDufour, 1831
  • Attus melanognathus Lucas, 1839
  • Marpissa melanognathus Simon, 1883
  • Menemerus bivittatus Simon, 1901

and many others.

Male pedipalp Menemerus bivittatus pedipalp.jpg
Male pedipalp

Menemerus bivittatus is a spider in the family Salticidae commonly known as the gray wall jumper. It is a pantropical species and is usually found on the walls of buildings or on tree trunks where it stalks its prey.

Contents

Description

Gray wall jumpers are dorso-ventrally flattened and are covered with short dense, grayish-white hairs. There are tufts of dark brown bristles near the large, forward-facing eyes. [1] The spiders are about nine millimetres long, the male being slightly smaller than the female. The male has a blackish longitudinal dorsal stripe with a brownish-white stripe on either side of the abdomen. The carapace and chelicerae are also black and white and the legs have transverse bandings of the same colours. The female is generally paler and more brown, with a larger carapace and abdomen. Her carapace is edged with two black bands and a thin white stripe and her abdomen is edged with broad black stripes on each side which unite at the posterior end. Her legs are banded but are paler than those of the male. Immature spiders resemble the female. [2]

Biology

The female gray wall jumper builds an eggsac in a crack or other concealed position in which she lays 25 to 40 eggs in a purse-like silken case. She guards the eggs until they hatch in about three weeks time after which the young spiders disperse. [2]

Both young and old spiders feed mainly on small flies which alight on walls. They do not build a web but instead, stalk their prey before launching an attack by leaping on the victim. They have high visual acuity and their large eyes are able to focus on objects [3] and detect different colours. [4] They use their highly coordinated jumping ability to capture their prey and to move from one place to another. They are capable of capturing insects such as crane flies that are at least twice their own size. [2]

Male spiders of this species possess a stridulatory apparatus which consists of several long bristles on the palpal femur and a series of horizontal ridges on the outer side of the chelicerae. Sound is generated when the spider rubs these ridges up and down against the palpal teeth. This is believed to be part of a courtship display by the male. [1]

In India, this common spider is found on the outer walls of buildings and on tree trunks. It moves actively about in search of small insect prey, often vibrating its hairy palps as it walks. [5] In Gambia, spiders of this species have been observed loitering near and observing the entrances to nests of stingless bees. It is difficult for the spider to catch the bees as they fly out of the entrance but the bees are more vulnerable when returning to the nest. [6]

Distribution

Menemerus bivittatus is native to Africa, but has been widely introduced, resulting in a cosmopolitan distribution. [7] In America, the species is found in Florida, Texas, and California (USA) and south as far as Paraguay, including some Caribbean islands, Colombia, and Venezuela. It is often seen on the outside of man-made structures. [2]

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<i>Stenaelurillus latibulbis</i> Species of spider

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Stenaelurillus guttiger, synonyms Aelurillus guttiger and Stenaelurillus natalensis, is a species of jumping spider in the genus Stenaelurillus that lives across southern Africa. It was first described in 1901 by Eugène Simon. It feeds on termites, particularly Macrotermes and Odontotermes. Initially allocated to the genus Aelurillus the species was moved to its current genus in 1974. First found in South Africa, it has also been seen in Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The spider is medium-sized, with a carapace that is between 2.0 and 2.75 mm long and an abdomen that is between 1.8 and 2.9 mm long. It is dark brown or brown, and has a pattern of white hairs on both the abdomen and carapace. The carapace has a pattern of two stripes and abdomen has a white pattern of straight and V-shaped stripes and spots. It is a very diverse species, with a wide range of different colours and patterns. It is distinguished by the design of its sexual organs. The male has an embolus that is short and crab like. The female has a flat plate epigyne with widely separated copulatory openings and insemination ducts and a deep narrow pocket.

<i>Eris militaris</i> Species of spider

Eris militaris, known commonly as the bronze jumper or bronze lake jumper, is a species of jumping spider, belonging to the Salticidae family. It is found in the United States and Canada within both suburban and rural areas. The male and female of this species can be differentiated from their size or by the coloration on their cephalothorax and abdomen. The females have a lighter cephalothorax a slightly darker abdomen with white spots. They are active in the autumn and winter season and can be found in sheltered areas within vegetation. They can also be found living within apple orchards, where insecticides may be present, which can potentially effect or alter their personality and behavior. Their diet consists of small insects, almost anything they can hold.

References

  1. 1 2 A revision of the spider genus Menemerus in Africa
  2. 1 2 3 4 Featured Creatures. entnemdept.ufl.edu.
  3. Land M. 1972. Mechanisms of orientation and pattern recognition by jumping spiders (Salticidae). Pages 231-247 In Information processing in the visual system of arthropods, R. Wehner, ed. Berlin, Springer-Verlag.
  4. DeVoe RD. 1975. Ultraviolet and green receptors in principal eyes of jumping spiders. Journal of General Physiology 66: 193-208.
  5. Spiders of India
  6. Feeding behavior of trunk-living jumping spiders (Salticidae) in a coastal primary forest in The Gambia
  7. "Taxon details Menemerus bivittatus (Dufour, 1831)", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2020-11-11

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.485.4929&rep=rep1&type=pdf