#Anelosimus eximius

[femsplainingwitch]

Follow up to Kill your Rapist Mantis. Again strongly inspired by pillarsalts art and this time by the lovely spider species Anelosimus eximius.

Here a little info about her:

#tw: arachnophobia #embrace sisterhood spider

[jupiterswasphouse]

I looked into this bit of the book! And yes, some aphids (such as Pemphigus spyrothecae) and thrips (some within the genus Kladothrips) are eusocial! As are 'snoutless' true weevil species Austroplatypus incompertus (quite the name to be honest), and even 8 (or possibly 9) species of snapping shrimp within the genus Synalpheus! However, with spiders, despite the existence of many social spiders, the consensus seems to be that none are truly eusocial (although, Anelosimus eximius gets really close to it! The one thing keeping it from the definition of eusociality is the lack of proper castes)

[Image ID: A photo of a page of a book that reads as follows, "however, not the only eusocial groups; there are some eusocial aphids and thrips, and there is even a primitive eusocial species of ambrosia beetle that lives in galleries (tunnels) in the heartwood of eucalyptus trees in southeastern Australia. Outside of the insects, eusociality is rare. It is found in some spiders and snapping shrimps, but in only two other animals; the naked mole rat of the Horn of Africa and southern Africa's Damara mole rat are the only eusocial vertebrates. Some argue that subsets of human society meet the criteria for eusocial behavior, so we might include ourselves in this distinguished company." /End ID.]

#Wasp House Buzzing #Bugblr

[ask-emoripals]

🎹: Oooo, Kel has the right idea of talking about invertebrates, I should join in on the trend with him! This’ll be about spider’s.

One may think that all spider’s are solitary, but surprisingly enough this is not the case! Although a tiny percentage to the total of over 50,000 species, there are 23 species of spider’s that are social, dived among 11 genera among 8 different families!

One of these happens to be the Only herbivorous species of spiders, that being the Bagheera Kiplingi jumping spider, their primary diet comprising of nub’s of the mimosaceae trees they inhabit. Technically though, they are quasisocial, in that the adult’s work together to protect and care for their young and that’s that.

One of the most studied social spider species is the Anelosimus Eximius, part of the cobweb spider genus. Among the species, they are the most social, living in groups of as many as a thousand adult and young individual’s, helping eachother out in nest building, caring for young, (By regurgitating food) and hunting for prey. Speaking of, because they use the super power of teamwork, they can hunt comparatively larger prey than other solitary species their size.

The male to female gender ratio is however skewed, as colonies usually have 5% to 22% of their populations consisting of males. Establishing new colonies is also incredibly difficult, often meaning that their populations can be inbred. Inspite of these flaw’s however, this species show’s that speciality can be a very helpful trait for even natures loner’s!

#emori ask blog #ask emori pals #emori au #emori #omori ask blog #omori #omori mari #omori kel #kel and mari friendship #ooooohh kel and mari friendship propaganda

[justsomespiders]

New pfp looks really nice I love how the web looksssssss

What species spider are you btw?

tyty

consensus is still out! generally the thought is one of three things by people around us (we initially just thought "spider" instead of any specifics, but apparently it's fun to find an answer <3) 1: a dancing white lady spider 2: a portia spider, 3: Anelosimus eximius spiders :P

[blogbimat]

các loài nhện ở việt nam

Việt Nam là nơi sinh sống của nhiều loài nhện đa dạng, với hơn 1.000 loài đã được ghi nhận bao gồm cả những loài có độc và không độc. Trong bài viết dưới đây, Blog Bí Mật đã tổng hợp các loài nhện ở Việt Nam để các bạn phòng tránh nhé! Các loài nhện ở Việt Nam Nhện hay còn gọi là nhền nhện, có tên khoa học là Araneae, là động vật không xương sống thuộc ngành chân khớp và thuộc lớp hình nhện. Các loài nhện ở Việt Nam phổ biến nhất mà bạn có thể bắt gặp là nhện nhà, nhện túi vàng, nhện chân dài, nhện góa phụ đen, nhện sói, nhện Tarantula, nhện nhảy... Nhện nhà (Araneus diadematus) - Loài nhện này thường được tìm thấy trong nhà, có kích thước trung bình, với con trưởng thành dài khoảng 1 đến 2 cm. Chúng có màu nâu hoặc đen với các đốm trắng trên bụng. - Mạng nhện nhà được làm bằng tơ, là một loại protein rất chắc chắn. Tơ nhện mạnh hơn cả thép. Nhện nhà thường xây mạng hình tròn ở những nơi có nhiều côn trùng, chẳng hạn như vườn cây, bụi rậm và nhà cửa. - Nhện nhà sử dụng mạng của mình để bắt con mồi. Khi một con côn trùng bay vào mạng, nó sẽ bị mắc kẹt trong tơ. Nhện sau đó sẽ tiêm nọc độc vào con mồi để làm tê liệt nó trước khi ăn thịt. - Nọc độc của chúng không nguy hiểm cho con người. - Nhện nhà là một phần quan trọng của hệ sinh thái. Chúng là con mồi của nhiều loài động vật khác, chẳng hạn như chim, thằn lằn và ếch. Nhện chân dài (Pholcus phalangioides) - Nhện chân dài được biết đến với đôi chân dài mảnh khảnh của chúng. Chúng có màu nâu hoặc xám và có kích thước từ 1 đến 2 cm. - Nhện chân dài thường được tìm thấy trong nhà, đặc biệt là ở những nơi ẩm ướt như phòng tắm và bồn rửa mặt. - Chúng không xây mạng mà sử dụng chân dài để bắt con mồi. Nhện chân dài là loài săn mồi ban đêm. Chúng sẽ rung mạng của mình để cảm nhận con mồi và sau đó sẽ tấn công bằng những chiếc chân dài của mình. - Nhện chân dài là loài ăn thịt. Chúng ăn nhiều loại côn trùng, bao gồm ruồi, muỗi, bọ cánh cứng và nhện nhỏ. - Nhện chân dài là loài sinh sản hữu tính. Con đực sẽ tặng con cái một gói tinh trùng, sau đó con cái sẽ đẻ trứng. - Nọc độc của chúng không nguy hiểm cho con người. Các loài nhện độc ở Việt Nam Mặc dù Việt Nam có hơn 1.000 loài nhện, nhưng chỉ có một số loài được coi là nguy hiểm cho con người. Dưới đây là một số loài nhện độc phổ biến nhất ở Việt Nam: Nhện góa phụ đen (Latrodectus mactans) - Nhện góa phụ đen là một trong những loài nhện độc nhất trên thế giới - Nhện góa phụ đen thường được tìm thấy trong những nơi có nhiều nơi ẩn náu, chẳng hạn như đống đá, gỗ và nhà cửa. - Con cái có màu đen với một đốm đỏ hình đồng hồ cát trên bụng. Con đực có kích thước nhỏ hơn và có màu nâu. - Nọc độc của nhện góa phụ đen có thể gây ra các triệu chứng nghiêm trọng như đau nhức dữ dội, chuột rút cơ, buồn nôn, nôn mửa, đổ mồ hôi và thậm chí tử vong trong một số trường hợp hiếm gặp. - Nhện góa phụ đen là loài ăn thịt. Chúng ăn nhiều loại côn trùng, bao gồm ruồi, muỗi, bọ cánh cứng, ấu trùng bọ và nhện nhỏ. - Nhện góa phụ đen có tuổi thọ tương đối dài, con cái có thể sống tới 30 năm. Con đực trưởng thành thường bị con cái ăn thịt sau khi giao phối. Nhện túi vàng (Anelosimus eximius) - Nhện túi vàng là một loài nhện nhỏ, có kích thước từ 5 đến 7 mm. Nhện túi vàng có 4 đôi chân, đôi đầu tiên dài hơn đôi thứ tư. - Cơ thể có màu xanh xám, bụng màu vàng có các sọc tối chạy dọc theo cơ thể. - Nhện túi vàng thường xây mạng hình túi ở những nơi có nhiều côn trùng, chẳng hạn như vườn cây và bụi rậm. - Nhện túi vàng được biết đến với khả năng di chuyển rất nhanh. Chúng có thể di chuyển bằng cách chui qua mạng của mình hoặc đi bộ trên mặt đất. - Nhện túi vàng có thể đẻ khoảng 5 túi trứng, mỗi túi có từ 30 – 48 trứng - Nọc độc của nhện túi vàng có thể gây ra cảm giác nóng rát và sưng tấy ở người, tuy không nguy hiểm đến tính mạng. Nhện sói (Lycosa spp.) - Nhện sói là loài nhện săn mồi, có nghĩa là chúng không xây mạng mà rình rập con mồi. - Chúng được biết đến với kích thước lớn và bộ lông dày. Có kích thước từ 1 đến 3 cm và có màu nâu hoặc xám. - Nhện sói là những kẻ săn mồi và ăn côn trùng, sên nhỏ, thằn lằn nhỏ, ếch và thậm chí cả chim. Chúng thường xuất hiện vào ban đêm, tiêm con mồi bằng nọc độc từ chelicerae của chúng, sau đó hóa lỏng con mồi bằng enzyme tiêu hóa trước khi hút hết. - Nọc độc của chúng có thể gây ra cảm giác đau nhức và sưng tấy ở người. - Nhện sói là loài đơn độc và dành phần lớn thời gian ẩn náu trong hang hoặc dưới đá. Con cái có thể sống tới 30 năm, trong khi con đực chỉ sống được vài năm sau khi trưởng thành. - Nhện sói mẹ mang theo con của mình trên lưng cho đến khi chúng đủ lớn để tự chăm sóc bản thân. Nhện nâu ẩn dật (Loxosceles reclusa) - Loài nhện này không phổ biến ở Việt Nam như hai loài nhện trên, nhưng nọc độc của chúng có thể gây ra tình trạng hoại tử mô nghiêm trọng. - Nhện nâu ẩn dật có màu nâu với một vệt sẫm màu hình violin trên lưng. - Kích thước: Nhỏ, dài từ 6 đến 20 mm (0,25 đến 0,75 inch) - Màu sắc: Nâu, với các đốm đen hoặc nâu sẫm - Nọc độc của chúng có thể gây ra các triệu chứng như sốt, ớn lạnh, buồn nôn, nôn mửa, đau cơ và hoại tử da. Nhện Tarantula - Nhện Tarantula thường khiến người bắt gặp kinh hoàng và khiếp sợ bởi màu sắc và hình dáng nổi bật của chúng. - Chân của nhện Tarantula trưởng thành có kích thước lớn hơn các loài nhện khác. Chiều dài cơ thể của chúng, trừ chân, thường dao động từ 1 đến 5 inch. Chân nhiều lông màu đen hoặc nâu, và đặc biệt một số loài còn có màu nổi bật đỏ cam xen kẽ. - Nhện Tarantula thường không được coi là mối đe dọa đối với con người, mặc dù nọc độc của chúng có thể gây đau đớn và sưng tấy. Tuy nhiên, một số người có thể bị dị ứng với nọc độc nhện Tarantula và có thể bị phản ứng nghiêm trọng. Lưu ý: - Nếu bạn bị nhện cắn, điều quan trọng là phải đi khám bác sĩ ngay lập tức, đặc biệt nếu bạn bị dị ứng với nhện hoặc có bất kỳ triệu chứng nào nghiêm trọng. - Nên tránh tiếp xúc trực tiếp với nhện và mạng nhện của chúng. - Nếu bạn muốn tiêu diệt nhện trong nhà, bạn có thể sử dụng các phương pháp như bẫy nhện, thuốc xịt côn trùng hoặc gọi dịch vụ kiểm soát côn trùng chuyên nghiệp. Kết luận Các loài nhện ở Việt Nam đều có những đặc điểm và hình thái riêng biệt, và việc hiểu biết về chúng có thể giúp bạn phân biệt và đối phó hiệu quả hơn. Trên đây là một trong số các loài nhện phổ biến tại Việt Nam hiện nay. Hy vọng bài viết mang lại cho bạn thông tin hữu ích để phân biệt và tìm đúng cách để loại trừ những “thủ phạm” gây khó chịu này. Read the full article

[unbfacts]

#Anelosimus eximius #spiders #insects #facts

[thelipofthebell]

*David walks, carefully, to the train station. His once-friends would be there, soon, but for now… he walks. Mundanely. Perhaps even stretching out the ground in front of him so that it takes him longer to reach it. They had arrived the day before, the Spinners, the Norns as some called them. They had arrived the day before, but liked to keep their movements hidden. They were going to meet David here, so that he would not know where they had been hiding. David steps onto the platform as the train screeches into place.*

*The doors open. Three bodies walk out. They carry little luggage, a purse. A briefcase big enough for a vinyl record. David's hands itch for the music back. He smiles at his once-friends.*

"Hello, Urðr. Verðandi. Skuld." *He punctuates each name with a handshake, even though both parties know that the three hands are functionally the same. One hand is another hand just as one spider is another. The colony, in the end, is one.*

"David," *says Verðandi, the body that is tall and tanned and has rotted eyes. A spider crawls from their mouth.* "The business. Your home?"

"Yes." *David leads the Spider colony away from the station. Toward his apartment. He uses the Vast, lightly, to make the walk shorter. He wants this to be over with.*

*His apartment is on the top floor. He speeds up the stairs. The Spiders follow him. He doesn't look back, simply unlocks the door and stands in his living room/dining room/homework grading station.*

*The Spinners follow behind and face him. Small, small Spiders crawl through their hair and clothes, more visibly moving now that they're away from the public eye. David watches them.*

"The business." *Says Skuld. Their once-eyes, now only holes, are filled with Spiders.*

"Yes." *David sticks his hands in his pockets.* "You broke the deal."

"We did." *Says Urðr. Their eyes are closed. Some of the maybe-eyelashes are segmented.*

"You said you would protect her until she was at least 18. Make sure she didn't die. You didn't even have to train her." *He fights the urge to raise his voice. Keeps it low, cool, collected.*

"We protected her as best we could." *Urðr again.*

"She would have turned 16 in a week. 'The best you could' isn't good enough. Give me back the music." *David's record player is a foot away from him. If the need comes, he's able to lunge for it and turn his apartment into a Domain where even the Spider Strings will be useless in the expanse.*

"Of course." *Verðandi says. Skuld moves, holding out the briefcase.*

*David warily takes it, opening the latch and looking through it, carefully. Tallying it up in his head. Its all there.* "Thank you."

"Of course." *Urðr smiles. Spiders inside their cheeks are pulling their lips into the shape.*

"No ill will?" *David asks.*

*All three Spiders grin.* "No ill will." *Its in unison. After all, pretending they are three is just a ruse. Either they are one or thousands. Not three.*

"Good."

"You will see us off?" *The Spiders ask.* "Different train station. The one to the North. Tomorrow morning. Before school."

"I will." *David sighs.*

*The Spiders leave. David locks the door and leans against it. His cousin was dead, and he had learned about it from his sister the week before. The Spiders had promised to protect her, since she one day could have been one of their own. They had failed, and she was dead, and no amount of cursed music in his hands would bring her back. He sobs. He doesn't care that there are papers to grade, that he should check the music collection again to be sure it is all there. He doesn't care.*

*After a few long minutes, he stands up from where he had slid to the floor behind his door and walks to his record player. Presses play. He lies down on his floor, listening to songs about the stars while trying to lose himself in them.*

#david ☄️ #trap spider trap spider #the three spinners 🕸️ (Anelosimus eximius)

[buglife]

Social Spiders: A Ramble

HELLO FRIENDS!

@nurgletwh was wondering about if there are any 'social spiders', and I decided to write here instead of spamming it on AO3.

Firstly, lets define the difference between 'social' and 'communal', as both exist and can be used to describe various species of invertebrates.

Communal means that the organism can exist with other organisms with it's type and generally not have any problems. They don't actively help each other, but are kinda like buddies in the same room. Millipedes and Isopods are examples of communal invertebrates, just hanging out doing invert things.

Social means that the organism exists with other organisms of it's type and have active, defined roles within to benefit the group as a whole. Ants and honey bees are good examples, as everyone actively works to better their colonies/hives. There is active care for each other involved, such as feeding each other, grooming each other, or conveying messages and signals. Think of them like a family. Swarming occurs when the colony gets too large and splits, with the leaving group establishing a new colony elsewhere.

Most spiders are solitary and only pair up when it's time to mate. Many are maternal and will carry/guard their eggs until they hatch, which then they go off on their own when ready. Either by ballooning (letting a thin string of web catch on the wind and carry them away) or by just jumping off mom and going their own way. Point is that slings (baby spiders) don't stick around too long.

Annnd under the cut, we will talk about spiders that DO stick around! Warning! I will be including pictures of spiders under the cut! I hope you will still read if you are able, but don't distress yourself in the process!

NOW, on to SOCIAL SPIDER BUDDIES!

Firstly, lets look at perhaps the best example of a social spider, the Anelosimus eximius. The entire genus of Anelosimus has a sliding scale of social interactions by individual species, which makes it excellent for studying social behavior and how it evolves.

Anelosimus eximius are quite small, and are less than 8 millimeters at the largest size of the spectrum. This is an adult female. Teeny.

Here is a colony all grouped together. You might think, 'oh, this is just a small little nest', but you are WRONG.

Their nests are HUGE (around 25 feet LONG) and can contain more than twenty to fifty thousand individual spiders. (Don't worry friends, this particular species only live in warm tropical areas of central and south America.)

But you ask yourself, why would these spiders choose to work together when they can just fuck off and do their own thing? Well, it's for the same reason we humans lived together in colonies. You would find more similarities between us and them than you can think!

1. Food. By using this wide net, these spiders can catch very large prey, including BATS and BIRDS! Mostly however, they eat larger insects. The colony shares their catches with the rest and allows the injured and sick to share as well. They may not be able to catch big prey very often, but when they do its a influx of nutrients that an individual spider would never even dream of getting!

(Anelosimus eximius swarm their prey like a wolf pack!)

2. Reproduction. To keep this species in check, only a few females in the colony will lay eggs at a time. This isn't due to a caste system, since they have none, it's just a way to be sure there is enough food to go around. Since there are less females laying eggs, the entire colony participates in guarding and caring of the eggs and slings. The quality of their young is much higher than those of a solitary spider, who have a lot of babies in hopes that some will make it to adulthood. But with these guys, the babies are cared for and have a much better chance of making it and becoming another member of the colony. A.eximius females even feed the slings like a mother bird does to her chicks!

(Delena cancerides live in family groups, headed by the matriarch (mother) spider.)

3. Altriusm. This is a trait where you do something because it is kind with no real reward involved. These spiders have undergone experiments where they have adopted slings from other nests and seem to not really care about where they came from. Some other spiders will do this as well, such as wolf spiders. However, by developing altruistic traits, it helps out the rest of the colony in ways that will keep philosophy majors debating for centuries. Also, with more spiders helping, individual spiders have more time to rest and eat, reducing stress and becoming healthier!

(Theridion nigroannulatum is another social species, and you can see females with their egg sacks being guarded by other members of the colony)

4. Defense. The more individuals are in one place, the better they can defend themselves. These spiders often have to deal with kleptoparasites, other animals that feed themselves by stealing from others. Having more individuals helps them drive away these nuisances and protect their resources.

5. Maintenance. More hands (or spinnerets) means more can get done in a shorter amount of time. Some spiders of the colony will repair webs or lay down new lines. Some will remove mold and parasites and dispose of them. Some will keep the web and other members clean. A rainstorm that destroys the web of a regular spider will take a long time to repair, but for Anelosimus eximius, there's already someone fixing it as soon as it happens. Oddly enough, many members of this species fall into roles they feel are most suitable to them. They are egalitarian!

(Stegodyphus dumicola work together to repair the web and keep it clean.)

A great big negative however, is lack of genetic diversity. It is difficult for 'new blood' to enter a colony, because the colonies around said colony are offsets of said colony. Colonies within a specific area tend to be related to each other, so the spiders themselves are essentially clones.

The positives outweigh the negatives in terms of forming a colony, so why don't all spiders do this?

Because different spiders occupy ecological niches and some of those roles don't allow for much socialization. The amount of food needed to feed large colonies is huge and it must have consistent prey. Environment and weather provides a factor too. It takes the right environment, weather, and prey density to allow a species to evolve to band together for mutual benefit. Some species figured out that banding together gets them through rough times and have stuck with the strategy since.

(To study how social spiders divide labor and develop personalities, some poor intern had to catch a bunch of Stegodyphus sarasinorum and put paint on their butts.)

There are only about 23-27 confirmed (some debated) species of social spider (that we know of here in Aug 2021), which is quite small compared to the large number of other kinds of spiders! There are over forty thousand species of spiders currently recorded as of Aug 2021, so that means that social spiders only make up around 0.06% of total recorded species of spiders! You can see just how rare they are and why they are studied so much in the entomology field!

I hope you enjoyed my little ramble about these precious and rare critters <3

(Anastoechus nitidulus: AKA the author of this post)

#entomology #arachnophobia #spider #spiders #bug stuff #in which I talk about spooders #can you guys tell that i love spooders? #contains pictures #social spiders

[hapalopus]

Hi! I was wondering if you could help me with some spider questions in the fantasy genre. See, I'm trying to write a fantasy book and a group of humans have been cursed to live as abnormally large spiders without their human mind. I want to write the spider behavior somewhat accurately, despite the unrealistic situation (and I'm not sure what kind of spiders or if hybrids is the way to go), but I don't know where to start or what the specific key words are to figure out what I need to know.(1/2)

(2/2) I’ve done some research on it before but was unable to really find what I was looking for (probably also because I’m not sure about the spider type), so I was wondering if you were willing to point me in the right direction with some good, basic websites? (Danish, English or both are fine). Either way, thanks in advance! 

Generalizing spider behavior is like generalizing carnivoran behavior! Like, sure, cats and dogs have a lot of behavior in common, but you wouldn’t say their behavior is the same. Just think about it: there are 270 species of carnivorans and all of them - even the close relatives, like wolves and coyotes - have different behavior. Meanwhile there are around 40.000 species of spider!! So you’re right that the reason you can’t find any concrete behavior is probably because you haven’t narrowed down any species to take your inspiration from :)

There are a few things you can generalize about spider behavior:

Spiders, like cats, are both predators and prey (and even then there’s exceptions like Bagheera kiplingi who are mostly vegetarian or Adelocosa anops who don’t really have any predators). Spiders aren’t confident apex predators who laze around, like lions. They have to be on guard at all times, and most prefer to hide when they aren’t actively hunting for food or mates. This may not be relevant to your story though, if your spiders are the size of Shelob!

Spiders’ primary sense is sensing vibrations in the air and ground with fine hairs on their legs and abdomen. Even species that rely heavily on eye-sight (like jumpers) still primarily sense with their hairs. They also detect sounds and smells with hairs on their legs and have no sense of taste in their mouth. Most spiders have really lousy sight and all of them have lousy hearing!

All spiders make web, but they make it for wildly different reasons (even a single species can easily have 5-10 different kinds of web). A few examples of webs include spiral webs, tangle webs, sheet webs, safety lines, sperm webs, egg sacs, gossamer threads, and cocoons. This article gives a really good overview [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_silk] and if you really wanna dig deep, the book “Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating” by Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig should be really good (though I haven’t personally read it yet).

All spiders (and all animals, honestly) exhibit some kind of social behavior. For some spiders this is overt aggression towards other members of their species. For others it’s tolerance, or even a preference for being social! The key is that they all react to and interact with members of their own species.

Some species I suggest looking into (aka some of my favorites, I’m very biased):

Long-bodied cellar spider (Pholcus phalangioides) - A common guest in bathrooms around the world. They may not look like much, but they have some of the most interesting social behavior imho! There’s a bit of conflicting information floating around, which is par for the course for any invertebrate, but to generalize: They’re semi-social, as the slings and juveniles will often cooperate when building webs and catching prey, and they’re web-pirates who’ll steal other webs and eat the former inhabitants. Young spiders are known to eat communally, and older spiders are known to live close to and tolerate each other. The female mixes sperm from several males, which means that all males have sired some of her offspring and thus won’t want to kill it because they might kill their own. The female protects her eggs and babies for weeks until the juveniles can survive on their own and disperse. This is a fairly common level of sociality that you’ll also see in a lot of other genera, including Metepiera, Cyrtophora, and Badumna. Can you tell I love my bathroom spiders?

Socotra Island blue baboon (Monocentropus balfouri) - This species is also ‘just’ tolerant of other members of its species, but it’s unique in that it’s a tarantula! Individuals from different egg sacs can sometimes attack each other, but if they’re raised together and have enough food they won’t mind each other. The females will defend and feed their offspring until they’ve molted a few times, so they’re also good mothers!

Social wall spider (Oecobius civitas) - This one’s probably the most unique (and the one with the scarcest information online). These spiders’ webs are connected, and can hold up to 200 spiders per 100 square inches. If one spider is disturbed it’ll dart out of its little web burrow and try to find another hiding place, and if no hiding place is available it’ll run into another spider’s burrow. The spider in this burrow will then flee and try to find a new hiding place, which can lead to tens of spiders running around for several seconds until they’ve all found new hiding places. Another thing these spiders do is having a shared egg sac in their colony where all the females will deposit their eggs, which are then protected communally by adults and older juveniles. They also hunt communally which lets them take down larger prey, and have been known to regurgitate food to feed spiderlings.

Honorary mention to Agelena consociata, Anelosimus eximius, and Archaearanea wau who might actually be the most social spiders, but whom I’d have to read up on to accurately cover. I’ve already spent much more time on this than I meant to, RIP. The book “The Encyclopedia of Land Invertebrate Behaviour” by Rod and Ken Preston-Mafham covers their behavior.

This paper gives a very quick overview of the social behavior of a bunch of different species: [https://www.academia.edu/2702901/The_evolution_of_social_behavior_in_spiders]

#ask #bugblr

[reportwire]

These Spiders Hunt in Packs to Catch Prey Hundreds of Times Their Size | Smart News

These Spiders Hunt in Packs to Catch Prey Hundreds of Times Their Size | Smart News

The lady-bug-sized spiders live in colonies of thousands are rarely leave the safety of their web. Bernard Dupont via Wikimedia Commons While most spiders live a solitary life, Anelosimus eximius knows there is strength in numbers. The arachnids, native to the tropical forests of French Guiana, spin basket-shaped webs that can reach the size of a small house. When prey is ensnared in their…

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#animals #biology #ecology #evolution #insects #Weird Animals #Wildlife

[indianarrative1]

Scientists solve the mystery of how spider gangs plan attacks

It is amazing to see spiders attack their prey in packs but it has always intrigued scientists as to how the coordinated offensive takes place. This is precisely what a team of researchers decided to study, says a report in sciencealert.com.

Among 50,000 known species of spiders there are 20 which, contrary to their usual solitary life, live together in colonies. One of them is Anelosimus eximius, a social spider which lives in a large group of more than 1,000 individuals, who spin webs that span many metres.

When a victim is trapped, these creatures harmonise their attack together enabling them to tackle prey much larger than them individually.

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#science #wildlife #spider #spiders

[nedsecondline]

Spiders carry out coordinated attacks to capture prey - Mágica Mistura を

Spiders carry out coordinated attacks to capture prey – Mágica Mistura を

This is the case for the species Anelosimus eximius – small red spiders, native to Central and South America. They live in colonies of up to thousands of individuals and work together to build giant webs that span several meters. When an insect (like a moth or a grasshopper) gets curled up in the web, the colony begins a synchronized attack: the spiders move towards the prey, at the same time,…

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[torixus]

Unveiling the Real Zombies

See what the Real Zombies Are

Different types of Zombies /torixus

Portraying Characters of Zombies have gain weight in popular entertainment setting, which features in many written Notes, Movies and Events, including the Halloween Season. Portraying the zombiism those it mean that they really Exist?. Zombie is define by many to be a walking Dead.. The Undead dead as many think of it. Torixus Media Navigate through the web to bring to you the actual cases of zombification The word zombie — originally spelled as zombi — first came into the English language in the 1800s, when poet Robert Southey mentioned it in his History of Brazil. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word comes from the Louisiana Creole or Haitian Creole word zonbi, and it is akin to the Kimbundu term nzúmbe, which means ghost. The word refers to creatures from Haitian folklore that, at its origin, was little more than the ghosts from Western folklore. The General conclusion of all this definition is that, Zombie refers to someone that is rendered mindless by a witch doctor, entering a death-like state while still animated, and thus becoming the witch doctor's slave. Many People in Nigerians, especially  Children Igbo use the word "Zombie" on someone they hate his/her character having labelled the person to be  Sluggish, ugly and not suppose to relate with Normal People. The Question being asked is if Zombies are actually existing here in earth, people want to know what zombies are really, what they represent and how can a being become one if they really exist. Torixus Media surf the Net and have a concluding categories of Zombie Natur Ranging from Ants to Human Kind of Zombie according to MedicalNewstoday 1. Zombie ants

Ophiocordyceps is a genus of fungi that has more than 200 species, and mycologists are still counting. Many species of fungi can be dangerous, often because they are toxic to animals, but there is one thing in particular that makes Ophiocordyceps especially frightening. Carpenter ants taken over by parasitic fungi give in to their attackers and 'lose their minds.' These species of fungus "target" and infect various insects through their spores. After infection takes place, the parasitic fungus takes control of the insect's mind, altering its behavior to make the propagation of fungal spores more likely. Ophiocordyceps "feed" on the insects they attach to, growing into and out of their bodies until the insects die. One of these species, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis sensu lato, specifically infects, controls, and kills carpenter ants (Camponotus castaneus), native to North America. When Ophiocordyceps unilateralis infect carpenter ants, they turn them into zombies. The ants become compelled to climb to the top of elevated vegetation, where they remain affixed and die. The high elevation allows the fungus to grow and later spread its spores widely. Researchers from Pennsylvania State (Penn State) University found that O. unilateralis take full control of the ants' muscle fibers, forcing them to move as it "wants" them to. "We found that a high percentage of the cells in a host were fungal cells," notes David Hughes, who is associate professor of entomology and biology at Penn State. "In essence, these manipulated animals were a fungus in ants' clothing." David Hughes Below, you can watch a video showing how the parasitic fungus infects its victims, leading them to their death. 2. Zombie spiders

Last year, zoologist Philippe Fernandez-Fournier — from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada — and colleagues made a chilling discovery in the Ecuadorian Amazon. A species of parasitic wasps takes full control of small, social spiders, driving them to their death. They found that a previously unknown species of the Zatypota wasp can manipulate spiders from the Anelosimus eximius species to an extent that researchers have never before witnessed in nature. A. eximius spiders are social animals that prefer to remain in groups, never straying too far from their colonies. But Fernandez-Fournier and team noticed that members of this species infected with Zatypota larva exhibited bizarre behavior, leaving their colony to weave tightly-spun, cocoon-like webs in remote locations. When the researchers opened these artificial "cocoons," they found Zatypota larvae growing inside. Further research presented a gruesome string of events. The Zatypota wasps lay eggs on the abdomen of A. eximius spiders. When the egg hatches and the wasp larva emerges, it starts feeding on the spider and begins to take control of its body. When the larva has gained full control of its host, it turns it into a zombie-like creature that is compelled to stray away from its mates and spin the cocoon-like nest that will allow the larva to grow into the adult wasp. Before entering its new "cocoon," though, the wasp larva first finishes its "job" by devouring its host. "Wasps manipulating the behavior of spiders has been observed before, but not at a level as complex as this," says Fernandez-Fournier. "[T]his behavior modification is so hardcore. The wasp completely hijacks the spider's behavior and brain and makes it do something it would never do, like leave its nest and spinning a completely different structure. That's very dangerous for these tiny spiders." Philippe Fernandez-Fournier 3. The reanimated virus

Reanimating humans, or, at least, human-like creatures, as in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or H. P. Lovecraft's "Herbert West: Reanimator," is a notion that has piqued the interest of writers, filmmakers and, of course, scientists, throughout the ages. A newly 'reanimated' giant virus from the Siberian permafrost offers a chilling warning of possible dangers to come. But while reviving dead humans may not be on the cards for our race just yet, reviving other organisms is. This can be particularly unsettling when we think that those organisms are... viruses. In 2014, researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at Aix–Marseille Université in France dug a fascinating organism out of the Siberian permafrost: a so-called giant virus, about 30,000 years old, which they named Pithovirus sibericum. Giant viruses are called this way because, though still tiny, they are easily visible under the microscope. But there is something else that makes P. sibericum stand apart. It is a DNA virus that contains a large number of genes — as many as 500, to be precise. This is in stark contrast with other DNA viruses, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which only contains about 12 genes in all. The size of giant viruses, as well as the fact that they contain such a large amount of DNA, can make them particularly dangerous, explain the researchers who discovered P. sibericum since they can stick around for an extremely long time. "Among known viruses, the giant viruses tend to be very tough, almost impossible to break open," explain two of the virus's discoverers, Jean-Michel Claverie and Chantal Abergel, in an interview for National Geographic. "Special environments such as deep ocean sediments and permafrost are very good preservers of microbes [and viruses] because they are cold, anoxic [oxygen-free], and [...] dark," they add. When "reanimated, P. sibericum only infected amoebas — archaic unicellular organisms — but happily not humans or other animals. Yet Claverie and Abergel warn that there may be similar giant viruses buried inside the permafrost that could prove dangerous to humans. Though they have remained safely contained so far, global heating and human action could cause them to resurface and come back to life, which might bring about unknown threats to health. "Mining and drilling mean [...] digging through these ancient layers for the first time in millions of years. If 'viable' [viruses] are still there, this is a good recipe for disaster." Jean-Michel Claverie and Chantal Abergel 4. Zombie plants

Also, in 2014, researchers from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, United Kingdom, found that certain bacteria, known as "phytoplasma," turn some plants into "zombies." Plants such as goldenrods can succumb to the control of manipulative bacteria. The bacteria — which insects disseminate — infect plants such as goldenrods, which have yellow flowers. The infection causes the goldenrods to put out leaf-like extensions instead of their usual blooms. These leaf-like growths attract more insects, which allows the bacteria to "travel" widely and infect other plants. While the transformation does not cause the plant to die, researchers are fascinated by how phytoplasma can bend this host's "will" to make it grow the elements they require to spread and thrive. "The insects transmit bacteria, so-called phytoplasmas, which destroy the life cycle of the plants," says Prof. Günter Theißen from Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany, one of the researchers who have closely studied the activity of phytoplasma. "These plants become the living dead. Eventually, they only serve the spread of the bacteria." Prof. Günter Theißen 5. Human zombies?

Photo of a Human zombies

But can humans turn into zombies, too? In the 1990s, Dr. Chavannes Douyon and Prof. Roland Littlewood decided to investigate whether Haitian zombies — reanimated, but mindless humans — were a real possibility. People with Cotard's syndrome are convinced that they are dead. In 1997, the two published a study paper in The LancetTrusted Source in which they analyzed the cases of three individuals from Haiti whose communities had identified as zombies. One was a 30-year-old woman who had, allegedly, quickly died after having fallen ill. Her family recognized her walking about as a "zombie" 3 years after this event. Another was a young man who had "died" at 18, and reemerged after another 18 years at a cockfight. The final case study concerned another woman who had "died" at 18 but was spotted again as a zombie 13 years after this event. Dr. Douyon and Prof. Littlewood examined the three "zombies," and found that they had not been the victims of an evil spell. Instead, medical reasons could explain their zombification. The first "zombie" had catatonic schizophrenia, a rare condition that makes the person act as though they are walking in a stupor. The second person had experienced brain damage, and also had epilepsy, while the third appeared merely to have a learning disability. "People with a chronic schizophrenic illness, brain damage, or learning disability are not uncommonly met with wandering in Haiti, and they would be particularly likely to be identified as lacking volition and memory which are characteristics of a zombi," the researchers write in their paper. But there is also a specific psychiatric disorder called Cotard's syndrome that can cause people to act like zombies. This is because they are under the delusion that they are dead or decomposing. It remains unclear just how prevalent this condition is, but research suggests that it is a rare occurrence. Documented cases of people with Cotard's syndrome are unsettling, nevertheless. One case studyTrusted Source reports the situation of a 53-year-old woman who "was complaining that she was dead, smelled like rotting flesh, and wanted to be taken to a morgue so that she could be with dead people." AnotherTrusted Source speaks of a 65-year-old man who had developed a belief that his organs — including his brain — had stopped working, and that even the house in which he lived was slowly but steadily falling apart. At some point, the man attempted to take his own life. Researchers report that "[h]is suicide note revealed that he wanted to kill himself as he feared spreading a deadly infection to the villagers who resultantly might suffer from cancer." Do such cases mean that zombies are real in some way, or, just as our fascination with the figure of the zombie in folklore and popular culture, do they merely reflect our uneasy relationship with death? We leave it to you to decide. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); via Blogger https://ift.tt/33qXE2J

#Lifestyle #NEWS

[gdsradio7]

La vespa che trasforma i ragni in zombie

La vespa che trasforma i ragni in zombie

L’ opportunismo nel mondo animale non è un fenomeno nuovo e i ricercatori della British Columbia University in Sud America hanno recentemente approfondito le conoscenze riguardo a un comportamento alquanto peculiare, oggetto di studi da diversi anni, ma mai compreso fino in fondo. Protagonista è la vespa parassitoide Zatypota (Zatypota sp.), capace di trasformare i ragni Anelosimus eximius in…

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[courtneytincher]

Commentaires : Une guêpe capable de transformer des araignées en zombies esclaves a été découverte

@numerama a écrit :

Les cafards ne sont pas seuls dans leur lutte contre la zombification par les guêpes. L’araignée Anelosimus eximius doit se défendre contre l’attaque macabre d’une nouvelle espèce découverte par des zoologistes de l’université de la Colombie-Britannique (Canada). Le 27 novembre 2018, l’université a raconté comment les chercheurs ont identifié ces guêpes prédatrices d’araignées. Ils ont décrit dans une étude publiée le 4 novembre comment ce parasitoïde, qui appartient à la famille des Zatypota, n’hésite pas à faire de certaines araignées de….

Par Nelly Lesage Revenir à l’article

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from Sur Numerama - Numerama

@numerama a écrit :

Les cafards ne sont pas seuls dans leur lutte contre la zombification par les guêpes. L’araignée Anelosimus eximius doit se défendre contre l’attaque macabre d’une nouvelle espèce découverte par des zoologistes de l’université de la Colombie-Britannique (Canada). Le 27 novembre 2018, l’université a raconté comment les chercheurs ont identifié ces guêpes prédatrices d’araignées. Ils ont décrit dans une étude publiée le 4 novembre comment ce parasitoïde, qui appartient à la famille des Zatypota, n’hésite pas à faire de certaines araignées de….

Par Nelly Lesage Revenir à l’article

Messages : 1

Participants : 1

Lire le sujet en entier