Published descriptions of egg sac construction behavior in araneids are scarce. We describe egg sac construction and oviposition in one individual of the poorly known araneid Pozonia nigroventris (Bryant 1936) and two individuals of Micrathena sp. These spiders folded dead leaves to protect their eggs. All individuals pulled up and hung a dead leaf above the forest floor, oviposited on the leaf, and then folded the leaf around the egg sac. They then deposited the enclosed egg sac in the leaf litter below. The use of dead leaves in this way probably evolved convergently, since these genera are only distantly related.
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1 August 2010
Egg sac construction by folding dead leaves in Pozonia nigroventris and Micrathena sp. (Araneae: Araneidae)
Jairo Moya,
Rosannette Quesada,
Gilbert Barrantes,
William Eberhard,
Ignacio Escalante,
Carolina Esquivel,
Andrés Rojas,
Emilia Triana,
Adriana Arias
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The Journal of Arachnology
Vol. 38 • No. 2
August 2010
Vol. 38 • No. 2
August 2010
Canopy spider
convergent behavior
oviposition
predator defense