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 ...

Androctonus ishtar sp. n. from Dohuk and Nineveh provinces, Iraq (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

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Androctonus ishtar sp. n. from Dohuk and Nineveh provinces, Iraq (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

ABSTRACT

A new species, Androctonus ishtar sp. n., is described and illustrated from the Dohuk and Nineveh provinces of Iraq. This new species was previously misidentified as A. crassicauda Olivier. Androctonus sumericus Al-Khazali and Yağmur, and A. turkiyensis Yağmur, are distributed in territories close to those of A. ishtar sp. n. The new species differs from A. crassicauda in the morphology of the fifth metasomal segment, from A. sumericus in its elongate chela, and from A. turkiyensis in the trichobothrial arrangement on the fixed fingers of the chela.

Yağmur, E. A., Kachel, H. S., Al-Khazali, A. M., Al-Jubouri, M. A. K., & Ali, F. R. (2025). Androctonus ishtar sp. n. from Dohuk and Nineveh provinces, Iraq (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Journal of Natural History, 59(25–28), 1757–1773. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2025.2496290