Pisaura mirabilis

Nursery web spider
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Pisauridae
Genus: Pisaura
Species: P. mirabilis
Binomial name
Pisaura mirabilis
(Clerck, 1757)
Female carrying egg sack

The nursery web spider Pisaura mirabilis is a spider species of the family Pisauridae.

It was described in chapter 5 of the book Svenska Spindlar by the Swedish arachnologist and entomologist Carl Alexander Clerck.

Description

The male is between 10–13 mm, while the female is 12–15 mm.[1]

Mating system

Males of this species offer a nuptial gift to potential female mates. Some Pisaura mirabilis have also been observed to use thanatosis during courtship.[2] After presenting the nuptial gift to the female, as part of the courtship, the female bites on to the gift and the male moves to her epigyne to deposit sperm via inserting his pedipalps. Throughout the corpulation, the male keeps a leg on the gift, so as to be ready if she tries to escape with the gift, or attack him. It is in the latter situations that the male will sometimes (but not always) feign dead. His limbs become straight, and he is dragged along with the female, while holding on to the gift. When the female finally stops, the male will slowly "ressurrect" and will continue attempting to mate.[2] The mating strategy of thanatosis in Pisaura mirabilis has been observed to significantly increase the male's odds of successfully achieving copulation, from less than 30% to 89%.[2][3]

Further reading

Pisaura mirabilis

References

  1. ↑ "Pisaura mirabilis". Retrieved 2009-02-10.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Hansen, S. H., Gonzalez S. F., Toft, S., & Bilde, T. (2008). Thanatosis as an adaptive male mating strategy in the nuptial gift-giving spider Pisaura mirabilis. Behavioral Ecology 19: 546-551. doi:10.1093/beheco/arm165
  3. ↑ "Spiders play dead to get laid". New Scientist magazine (2645). February 27, 2008. p. 19.

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Pisaura mirabilis
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See also