The pholcid spider Holocnemus pluchei (Scopoli 1763) competes for food with conspecifics, and spiders reared on high food levels are generally larger. In this study, we examined whether larger female body size (as estimated by tibia-patella length) translated into increased reproductive success in the form of increased clutch size, clutch weight, and average egg weight. Larger spiders had more eggs and thus heavier clutches, but there was no relationship between maternal size and average egg weight. We also looked for a tradeoff between average egg weight and egg number, and we found a weak relationship in which average egg weight was highest for intermediate-sized clutches. Larger female body size thus translates into increased reproductive success in terms of egg number and clutch weight, but not weight of individual eggs.
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1 August 2003
EFFECTS OF MATERNAL BODY SIZE ON CLUTCH SIZE AND EGG WEIGHT IN A PHOLCID SPIDER (HOLOCNEMUS PLUCHEI)
Christa D. Skow,
Elizabeth M. Jakob
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clutch size
egg size
fecundity
fitness
Pholcidae