AGELENIDAE

Funnel-web spiders A

Diagnostic Characters

Body size: medium-sized; males are the same size as the females but more slender Carapace pear-shaped, deep fovea; three pale bands; eyes relavely closely grouped, in two rows (4:4) Abdomen narrow-oval; tapering behind; greyish-brown somemes with a reddish-brown hue; a well-defined lancet-shaped paern with two rowsofdarklateralpatchesandfrequentlywithaseriesofyellowto white spots present dorsally; spinnerets with posterior spinnerets long and slender; two-segmented and clearly visible from above; apicalsegmenttaperingtowardsp Legssimilarinlength;longand fairly slender, especially in males; tarsi with a single row of trichobothria;three-clawed

Lifestyle

They construct typical non-scky funnel-webs with a flat open sheet The webs are usually close to the ground in low vegetaon The spider hides in the retreat with the front legs stretched out on the web to detect the vibraons of prey landing on it. Flying and jumping insects hit thevercal threads and drop onto theweb The spiderrushes outwith great speed, running overthe uppersurface The prey is grabbed, killed and carried back into the retreat When threatened, the spider quickly disappears down the retreat, escaping through an exit at the back The egg sacs are boleshaped, coveredwith sand and hang on one side of the retreat The web usually remains in the same place and is repaired and enlarged asthespidergrows Mangtakesplaceduringthesummermonths

Orb-web spiders

The Araneidae is represented by 39 genera and 105 species in South Africa. From the Fynbos Biome 25 genera and 54 species are known. The genera are very diverse in shape, colour, size and behaviour, and to help with identification arranged in the following subfamilies: Araneinae, Argiopinae, Cyrtophorinae, Gasteracanthinae and Nephilinae.

Subfamily ARANEINAE

The Araneinae is the largest subfamily in the Araneidae. The Fynbos Biome is represented by 34 genera and 43 species. From FNR 11 genera and 15 species are known.

Diagnostic Characters

Body size: very small to large, males usually smaller than females Colourvaries from cream to brown to greyish black orbrightlycoloured; colouroen allows the spiders to blend in with the substrate when resng Carapace variable, smooth or with numerous protuberances, especially in species found on bark; eyes eight in two rows Abdomen variable, usually as wide as long and overhanging the carapace, rarely elongate; somemes covered with protuberances or symmetrical markings Legs not very long, anterior pairs usually longer than posterior pairs, kept close tobodywhenatrest

Lifestyle

The hairy field spiders of the genera Araneus and Neoscona are common in grass in the FNR and construct their orbwebs late in the aernoon and dismantle them early in the morning. Caerostris is known as the bark orb-web spider because they resemble the bark they rest on during the day Cyclosa is known as garbage line orb-web spiders because they arrange web debris in line on the stabilimentum Gea the doilie spiders makes an orb-web with a round zigzag stabilimentumgivingittheappearanceofadoilie Duetothe triangular abdomen, Ideocaira is called the triangular orbweb spider Nemoscolus the stone-nest spiders, construct a small conical or heliciform shell studded with stones or vegetaoninthemiddleofanorb-web(Fig 12)

The hedgehog spider, Pycnacantha tribulus makes a reduced orb-web in the form of a trapeze, from which the females hang to catch moths at night Immature and mature spiky field-spiders, Pararaneus, build different orb-webs

The mature spiders build vercal orb-webs and the immatures horizontal webs Zygiella spiders build orb-webs withmanyradiiandafinemesh(Fig.13)closetotheground.

Fernkloof Species

Arachnura scorpionoides, Araneus apricus, A nigroquadratus, Caerostris sexcuspidata, Gea infuscata, Ideocaira transversa, Nemoscolus tubicola, Neoscona blondeli, N. hirta, N. rapta, N. rufipalpis, N. subfusca, N triangula,Pycnacanthatribulus,PararaneuscyrtoscapusandZygiellax-notata