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Argyrodes Elevatus
''Argyrodes elevatus'', commonly referred to as dew-drop spider, is part of the family Theridiidae that consists of more than 3,000 species. These spiders are most commonly found in subtropical and tropical regions in South and Central America, as well as southern regions of the United States. One of the key distinguishing characteristics of ''A. elevatus'' is its kleptoparasitic behavior through which it primarily procures food for survival. Typically 1 or 2 ''A. elevatus'' spiders preside in outer areas of webs built by other species of spiders, although it is possible for up to 45 spiders. There are two main mechanisms by which ''A. elevatus'' raid the hub of the host’s web to steal insects preyed and wrapped by the host spider. ''A. elevatus'' follows an intricate course to the hub of the web to search for prey, using vibrational detection enhanced by laid out threads along the web to find and capture the insect. These spiders are highly efficient, with the theft lasting a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theridiidae
Theridiidae, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders, is a large family of Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders first described by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833. This diverse, globally distributed family includes over 3,000 species in 124 genus, genera, and is the most common arthropod found in human dwellings throughout the world. Theridiid spiders are both Entelegynae, entelegyne, meaning that the females have a genital plate, and Cribellum, ecribellate, meaning that they spin sticky capture silk instead of woolly silk. They have a comb of serrated bristles (setae) on the Arthropod leg, tarsus of the fourth leg. The family includes some model organisms for research, including the List of medically significant spider bites, medically important Latrodectus, widow spiders. They are important to studies characterizing their venom and its clinical manifestation, but widow spiders are also used in research on spider silk and sexual biology, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spider Silk
Spider silk is a protein fibre spun by spiders. Spiders use their silk to make webs or other structures, which function as sticky nets to catch other animals, or as nests or cocoons to protect their offspring, or to wrap up prey. They can also use their silk to suspend themselves, to float through the air, or to glide away from predators. Most spiders vary the thickness and stickiness of their silk for different uses. In some cases, spiders may even use silk as a source of food. While methods have been developed to collect silk from a spider by force, it is difficult to gather silk from many spiders compared to silk-spinning organisms such as silkworms. All spiders produce silk, and even in non-web building spiders, silk is intimately tied to courtship and mating. Silk produced by females provides a transmission channel for male vibratory courtship signals, while webs and draglines provide a substrate for female sex pheromones. Observations of male spiders producing silk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diurnality
Diurnality is a form of plant and animal behavior characterized by activity during daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The common adjective used for daytime activity is "diurnal". The timing of activity by an animal depends on a variety of environmental factors such as the temperature, the ability to gather food by sight, the risk of predation, and the time of year. Diurnality is a cycle of activity within a 24-hour period; cyclic activities called circadian rhythms are endogenous cycles not dependent on external cues or environmental factors except for a zeitgeber. Animals active during twilight are crepuscular, those active during the night are nocturnal and animals active at sporadic times during both night and day are cathemeral. Plants that open their flowers during the daytime are described as diurnal, while those that bloom during nighttime are nocturnal. The timing of flower opening is often related to the time at which preferred pollinators ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sleep-wake Cycles
A circadian rhythm (), or circadian cycle, is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep–wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. It can refer to any process that originates within an organism (i.e., endogenous) and responds to the environment ( entrained by the environment). These 24-hour rhythms are driven by a circadian clock, and they have been widely observed in animals, plants, fungi and cyanobacteria. The term ''circadian'' comes from the Latin ''circa'', meaning "approximately", and ''dies'', meaning "day". Processes with 24-hour cycles are more generally called diurnal rhythms; diurnal rhythms should not be called circadian rhythms unless they can be confirmed as endogenous, and not environmental. Although circadian rhythms are endogenous, they are adjusted to the local environment by external cues called zeitgebers (German for "time givers"), which include light, temperature and redox cycles. In clinical settings, an abnormal circadian rhythm in humans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kleptoparasite
Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when food is scarce or when victims are abundant. Many kleptoparasites are arthropods, especially bees and wasps, but including some true flies, dung beetles, bugs, and spiders. Cuckoo bees are specialized kleptoparasites which lay their eggs either on the pollen masses made by other bees, or on the insect hosts of parasitoid wasps. They are an instance of Emery's rule, which states that insect social parasites tend to be closely related to their hosts. The behavior occurs, too, in vertebrates including birds such as skuas, which persistently chase other seabirds until they disgorge their food, and carnivorous mammals such as spotted hyenas and lions. Other species opportunistically indulge in kleptoparasitism. Strategy Kleptoparasitism ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metepeira Incrassata
''Metepeira incrassata'', also known as the colonial orb-weaving spider, belongs to the spider family Araneidae and genus Metepeira. They are most famous for their social organization and group living behavior. They are generally found in tropical rainforest and agricultural sites in Mexico, and their habitats tend to be highly productive (high generation rate of biomass). Their group sizes are relatively larger than other colonial spiders, typically ranging from hundreds to thousands of individuals. 99% of the females are observed to participate in colonial living, generally with at least two other individuals. Because most ''M. incrassata'' females are communal, the colonies are often dominated by larger males. There is minimal sexual dimorphism observed in ''M. incrassata''. Unlike other orb-weaver spiders, ''M. incrassata'' builds a colonial web by connecting each spider's individual webs together through semi-permanent framelines. These colonial webs of ''M. incrassata'' are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trichonephila Clavipes
''Trichonephila clavipes'' (formerly known as ''Nephila clavipes''), commonly known as the golden silk orb-weaver, golden silk spider, or banana spider (a name shared with several others), is an orb-weaving spider species which inhabits forests and wooded areas ranging from the southern US to Argentina. It is indigenous to both continental North and South America. Known for the golden color of their silk, the large size of their females, and their distinctive red-brown and yellow coloring, ''T. clavipes'' construct large, asymmetrical circular webs attached to trees and low shrubs in woods to catch small- and medium-size flying prey, mostly insects. They are excellent web-builders, producing and utilizing seven different types of silk, and they subdue their prey by injecting them with venom, as opposed to related species which immobilize their prey by wrapping them in silk first. They are not known to be aggressive towards humans, only biting out of self-defense if touched, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argiope Argentata
''Argiope argentata'', commonly known as the silver argiope due to the silvery color of its cephalothorax, is a member of the orb-weaver spider family Araneidae. This species resides in arid and warm environments in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and widely across South America. In the USA, it is found at least in Southern California, Florida, Arizona, Texas. ''A. argentata'' create stabilimenta and a unique zig-zag in its web design, and it utilizes its UV-reflecting silk to attract pollinating species to prey upon. Like other species of ''Argiope'', its venom is not harmful to humans; however, it can be employed to immobilize its prey. ''A. argentata'' engages in sexual cannibalism either mid- or post- copulation. One aspect of particular interest regarding this species is its extinction patterns, which notably have minimal correlation with its population size but rather occur sporadically for the species. Description ''Argiope argentata'' belongs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mating
In biology, mating is the pairing of either opposite- sex or hermaphroditic organisms for the purposes of sexual reproduction. ''Fertilization'' is the fusion of two gametes. '' Copulation'' is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproducing animals for insemination and subsequent internal fertilization. Mating may also lead to external fertilization, as seen in amphibians, fishes and plants. For most species, mating is between two individuals of opposite sexes. However, for some hermaphroditic species, copulation is not required because the parent organism is capable of self-fertilization ( autogamy); for example, banana slugs. The term ''mating'' is also applied to related processes in bacteria, archaea and viruses. Mating in these cases involves the pairing of individuals, accompanied by the pairing of their homologous chromosomes and then exchange of genomic information leading to formation of recombinant progeny (see mating systems). Animals For anim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fatty Acid Ester
Fatty acid esters (FAEs) are a type of ester that result from the combination of a fatty acid with an alcohol. When the alcohol component is glycerol, the fatty acid esters produced can be monoglycerides, diglycerides, or triglycerides. Dietary fats are chemically triglycerides. Esters of fatty acids are colorless, although degraded samples are sometime appear to be yellow or even brown. The triglycerides are powders, flakes, coarse powders, or granular or waxy lumps, oils or liquids. They are almost odorless. Biodiesels are typically fatty acid esters made by the transesterification of vegetable fats and oils. In this process the glycerol component is replaced with a different alcohol. The most commonly used alcohol is methanol, producing fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). When ethanol is used fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) are created. Other alcohols used for the production of biodiesel include butanol and isopropanol. Fatty acid ethyl esters are biomarkers for the consumption o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuptial Gift
A nuptial gift is a nutritional gift given by one partner in some animals' sexual reproduction practices. Formally, a nuptial gift is a material presentation to a recipient by a donor during or in relation to sexual intercourse that is not simply gametes in order to improve the reproductive fitness of the donor. Often, such a gift will improve the fitness of the recipient as well. This definition implies neutral gifts, costly gifts and beneficial gifts regarding the fitness of the recipient. Nuptial gifting is at the intersection of sexual selection, nutritional ecology, and life history theory, creating a link between the three. Edible and inedible nuptial gifts Many nuptial gifts are a source of nutrition for the recipient. In many species of animals, including birds, insects, and spiders, this takes the form of a food item that is transferred from a male to a female just prior to copulation. This is a behavior known as courtship feeding. Inedible tokens may include item ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argyrodes Elevatus
''Argyrodes elevatus'', commonly referred to as dew-drop spider, is part of the family Theridiidae that consists of more than 3,000 species. These spiders are most commonly found in subtropical and tropical regions in South and Central America, as well as southern regions of the United States. One of the key distinguishing characteristics of ''A. elevatus'' is its kleptoparasitic behavior through which it primarily procures food for survival. Typically 1 or 2 ''A. elevatus'' spiders preside in outer areas of webs built by other species of spiders, although it is possible for up to 45 spiders. There are two main mechanisms by which ''A. elevatus'' raid the hub of the host’s web to steal insects preyed and wrapped by the host spider. ''A. elevatus'' follows an intricate course to the hub of the web to search for prey, using vibrational detection enhanced by laid out threads along the web to find and capture the insect. These spiders are highly efficient, with the theft lasting a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
