Water spider
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| Water spider |
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| Scientific Classification |
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| Binomial Name |
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Argyroneta aquatica |
| Image Description |
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Contents |
Introduction
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Anatomy
The water spider's body is greatly adapted to the water. Fine setae covers the opisthosoma which is used as an aquatic lung that allows the spider to breathe under water by the setae trapping an air bubble against the spider's body and connected to the tracheal spiracles. The oxygen in the water surrounding the air-bell is diffused which can be exchanged in the tracheal system the normal way. Oxygen and Carbon dioxide can be increased and decreased so that the air bubble replenishes it's air[2]. The female water spiders can grow to 8mm all the way to 15mm, the male can grow up to 9mm to 12mm. Although the female has a greater range, the male tends to be bigger to some degree than the females in most cases[3].
Reproduction
The male will come along beside the female's air-bell that they have made for themselves and form another air-bell. The male then bites through the two bubbles and mates with the female. After the female lays her eggs in late spring or summer, she wraps the eggs in a white, silky cocoon at the top of the bell. The young spiders hatch within a few weeks, if the eggs are laid in late summer, the male seals the retreat with thicker silk[1][3].
Ecology
Reversed Sexual Arachnid Tradition
This particular spider isn't just the only one to live it's whole life underwater, but possibly the only spider to have reversed mating traditions.
Arachnid's relationships and mating traditions are usually: the female is larger and doesn't care about the size of the male, after the male is used to fertilize the female's eggs the male is devoured by the female because the mental mindset of "his job is done, i'm hungry" and such.
Yet most of these are irrelevent to the water spider. the water spiders are much different since instead of the female being the bigger, it is the male spider who tends to be bigger than the female. After mating, rather than the femal eating the male, the male actually cannibalizes the female. Not every time does the male devour the female though, there is actually a behavioral effect that increases or decreases the likelihood of the female being cannibalized. If the female avoids the larger, superior male, the chance of getting eaten is high. [4]
Gallery
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References
- ARKive D.Schutz, Dr Peter Merrett, 2003.
- American Arachnology Paul A. Selden, University of Manchester, 2002.
- the-piedpiper.co Stuart M. Bennett, Stuart M. Bennett, 2001.
- sexual conflict and mate choice D. Schutz and M. Taborsky, Journal of Arachnology, September 2005.
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External links
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