How to translate text using browser tools
1 November 2014 Thermal preference of Dysdera crocata C. L. Koch 1838 (Araneae: Dysderidae)
Rita Sepúlveda, Andres Taucare-Rios, Claudio Veloso, Mauricio Canals
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Body temperature is the most important ecophysiological variable affecting all aspects of the performance of ectotherms. However, thermal preferences and tolerances of spiders have been studied only in 0.1% of spider species. Knowledge of thermal preferences and tolerances is necessary to describe the ecology of these animals, defining the preferred foraging sites or preferred shelters and reproductive sites. In this study we report for the first time the preferred temperature of Dysdera crocata C.L. Koch 1838 in the laboratory. This is an epigean spider of Mediterranean climates with large temperature fluctuations. The preferred temperature was low: 9.12° ± 5.12 °C, and actively searched. It did not vary throughout the day.

The American Arachnological Society
Rita Sepúlveda, Andres Taucare-Rios, Claudio Veloso, and Mauricio Canals "Thermal preference of Dysdera crocata C. L. Koch 1838 (Araneae: Dysderidae)," The Journal of Arachnology 42(3), 299-302, (1 November 2014). https://doi.org/10.1636/B13-87.1
Received: 9 December 2013; Published: 1 November 2014
KEYWORDS
Chile
micro-environments
Woodlouse spider
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top