DISPERSAL OF STEGODYPHUS DUMICOLA (ARANEAE, ERESIDAE): THEY DO BALLOON AFTER ALL!

Jutta M. Schneider; Jörg Roos; Yael Lubin; Johannes R. Henschel

doi:10.1636/0161-8202(2001)029[0114:DOSDAE]2.0.CO;2

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Jutta M. Schneider,¹ Jörg Roos,¹ Yael Lubin,² Johannes R. Henschel³

¹Dept. of Population Biology, Zoological Institute, University of Mainz, 55099, Germany
²Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jakob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990, Israel
³Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, P.O. Box 20232, Windhoek, Namibia

Abstract

There has been some controversy about whether adult females of social Stegodyphus disperse by ballooning. Here we show that adult Stegodyphus dumicola (Eresidae) Pocock 1898 are able to gain up-lift by releasing a very large number of threads. The threads fan out widely from the spider's body and form a triangular sheet. This previously unknown ballooning mechanism, enables even large spiders to disperse over large distances.

Citation Download Citation

Jutta M. Schneider, Jörg Roos, Yael Lubin, and Johannes R. Henschel "DISPERSAL OF STEGODYPHUS DUMICOLA (ARANEAE, ERESIDAE): THEY DO BALLOON AFTER ALL!," The Journal of Arachnology 29(1), 114-116, (1 April 2001). https://doi.org/10.1636/0161-8202(2001)029[0114:DOSDAE]2.0.CO;2

Received: 20 July 2000; Published: 1 April 2001

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