Meta bourneti

Meta bourneti is an orb weaving cave spider closely related to Meta menardi.[2]

Meta bourneti
Female Mera bourneti on its egg sac
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Tetragnathidae
Genus: Meta
Species:
M. bourneti
Binomial name
Meta bourneti
Simon, 1922[1]
Synonyms[1]
  • Meta milleri Kratochvíl, 1942

Morphology

Big sized spider (body length male: 10–13 mm; female: 13–16 mm), very similar in the external morphology to the congeneric Meta menardi. The prosoma is red-brown, with darker margin. Legs are red-brown. The opisthosoma is yellowish, laterally often completely black.[3]

Ecology

Usually found in caves, in the twilight-zone. The species show a preference for cave walls and roofs, where it spin its orb-web. M. bourneti is able to consume a wide variety of prey items, including dipterans, moths, centipedes, woodlouse, and other cave-dwelling spiders.[4]

Phenology

Female and juveniles are observed all year round. Males are rare, and usually found from August to December.

The eggsac (cocoon) is white, drop-shaped, and very similar to that of M. menardi (see [5]). It is usually laid in the proximity of the cave entrance between October and November. The spiderlings hatch from the cocoon between January and February.[4]

Distribution

It is found from Europe to Georgia and North Africa.[1]

References
  1. "Taxon details Meta bourneti Simon, 1922", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2021-01-08
  2. "Rare spider species found in Highgate Cemetery vaults". BBC News. 20 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  3. "Meta bourneti – araneae". www.araneae.unibe.ch. Retrieved 2016-05-25.
  4. Mammola, Stefano; Isaia, Marco (2014-01-01). "Niche differentiation in Meta Bourneti and M. menardi (Araneae, Tetragnathidae) with notes on the life history". International Journal of Speleology. 43 (3): 343–353. doi:10.5038/1827-806x.43.3.11. ISSN 0392-6672.
  5. Chiavazzo, Eliodoro; Isaia, Marco; Mammola, Stefano; Lepore, Emiliano; Ventola, Luigi; Asinari, Pietro; Pugno, Nicola Maria (2015-01-05). "Cave spiders choose optimal environmental factors with respect to the generated entropy when laying their cocoon". Scientific Reports. 5: 7611. doi:10.1038/srep07611. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5154591. PMID 25556697.
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