Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T07:06:05.662Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some Factors Influencing the Orientation of the Spider, Frontinella communis (Hentz.), in its Web (Araneae: Linyphiidae)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

P. J. Pointing
P. J. Pointing
Affiliation:
Forest Insect Laboratory, Box 490, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The orientation of mature, female Frontinella communis (Hentz.) on horizontal sheet webs was recorded in the field. Spiders fully exposed to direct solar radiation oriented independently of the sun at ambient air temperatures from 18 to 27 °C., but at higher temperatures, corresponding to web temperatures from 30 to 37 °C., they oriented toward the sun's disk in both the horizontal and vertical planes. The orientation of spiders in shade was independent of the sun's azimuth over the entire range of air temperatures experienced (18 to 34 °C). During light to moderate rainfall spiders oriented in the direction of the prevailing wind and the vertical displacement of the body axis from the typically horizontal position varied directly with rainfall intensity.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 97 , Issue 1 , January 1965 , pp. 69 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1965

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Comstock, J. H. 1940. The spider book. Revised and edited by Gertsch, W. J.. Doubleday, New York.Google Scholar
Fraenkel, G. 1929. Sinnesphysiologie der Larven der Wanderheuschrecke, Schistocerca gregaria. Biol. Zbl. 49: 657–680.Google Scholar
Fraenkel, G. 1930. Die Orientierung von Schistocerca gregaria zu strahlender Wärme. Z. vergl. Physiol. 13: 300–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pointing, P. J. 1961. The biology and behaviour of the European pine shoot moth, Rhyacionia buoliana (Schiff.), in southern Ontario. I. Adult. Canad. Ent. 93: 1098–1112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rainey, R. C., Waloff, Z. and Burnett, G. F.. 1957. The behaviour of the red locust (Nomadacris septemfasciata Serville). Anti-Locust Bull., London 26, 96 pp.Google Scholar
Slifer, E. H. 1951. Some unusual structures in Locusta migratoria migratorioides and their probable functions as thermoreceptors. Proc. roy. Soc. (B) 138: 414–437.Google Scholar
Slifer, E. H. 1953. The pattern of specialized heat-sensitive areas on the surface of the body of Acrididae I. The males. II. The females. Trans. Amer. ent. Soc. 79: 37-68; 69–97.Google Scholar
Volkonsky, M. 1939. Sur la Photo-akinèse des acridiens. Arch. Inst. Pasteur Algér. 17: 194–220.Google Scholar
Wellington, W. G., Green, G. W. and Sullivan, C. R.. 1951. Polarized light and body temperature level as orientation factors in the light reactions of some hymenopterous and lepidopterous larvae. Canad. J. Zool. 29: 339–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar