Dispersal of Stegodyphus Dumicola (Araneae, Eresidae): They do balloon after all!

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

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    63 Scopus citations

    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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)114-116
    Number of pages3
    JournalJournal of Arachnology
    Volume29
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 1 Jan 2001

    Keywords

    • Ballooning
    • Dispersal
    • Eresidae
    • Social spider
    • Stegodyphus

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Insect Science

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