A comparison of adhesive performance among six cursorial spider species

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  A comparison of adhesive performance among six cursorial spider species Abstract The ability to adhere to surfaces is particularly relevant for cursorial predatory arthropods like hunting spiders, which often traverse relatively complex environments characterized by large variation in substrate properties. Here, we evaluated the adhesive performance of six hunting spider species that are common in eastern temperate North America and lack specialized tarsi for climbing smooth or inclined surfaces [Lycosidae: Pardosa lapidicina Emerton, 1885 and Rabidosa rabida (Walckenaer, 1837); Oxyopidae: Oxyopes salticus Hentz, 1845; Pisauridae: Pisaurina mira (Walckenaer, 1837); Dolomedidae: Dolomedes triton (Walckenaer, 1837), and Dolomedes scriptus Hentz, 1845]. We tested adhesion performance as shear load resistance (g) on a glass plate, and as the angle of failure (°) when the plate was gradually inclined relative to horizontal. Average angle of failure and shear resistance differed among ...

And they just keep coming: four new genera of dark sac spiders from southern Africa (Araneae, Trachelidae)

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And they just keep coming: four new genera of dark sac spiders from southern Africa (Araneae, Trachelidae)

Abstract

As part of ongoing revisions of the Afrotropical Trachelidae, four new genera are described from southern Africa: Foordana gen. nov., with F. distincta sp. nov. from South Africa (Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape) as the type species, F. flavipoda sp. nov. from the Free State, F. kasouga sp. nov. from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and a fourth undescribed species from Zimbabwe; the monotypic Mushimane gen. nov., with M. tswibilinki sp. nov. from KwaZulu-Natal as the type species; Namaquella gen. nov., with N. arida sp. nov. from the Northern Cape as the type species and N. samanthae sp. nov. from the Western Cape; and Rukuluk gen. nov. from South Africa, with R. gramineus sp. nov. from the Northern Cape as the type species and a second undescribed species from KwaZulu-Natal known only from juveniles.

Haddad CR (2025) And they just keep coming: four new genera of dark sac spiders from southern Africa (Araneae, Trachelidae). African Invertebrates 66(1): 19-64. https://doi.org/10.3897/AfrInvertebr.66.139299