TWO VENERABLE groups of spiders spin orb webs: the cnbellate Ulobondae, weavers of calamistrated sticky silk, and the ecribellate Araneidae, weavers of true viscid silk (Figs. 12.2, 12.1). "Cnbellate" spiders possess a cnbellum and a calamistrum. The cnbellum is a flat, complex spinning plate from which the cnbellate silk issues; the calamistrum is a comb of bristles on the fourth metatarsi use...

Intraspecific variation in avian thermoregulatory responses to heat stress has received little attention, despite increasing evidence that endothermic animals show considerable physiological variation among populations. We investigated seasonal (summer versus winter) variation in heat tolerance and evaporative cooling in an Afrotropical ploceid passerine, the white-browed sparrow-weaver (Plocep...

The Notes that follow are meant to supplement, and not to replace, the translation of the book Shaft Weaving and Graph Design by Olivier Masson and Francois Roussel, hereinafter referred to as M&R. All quotes and references are to the translation. The Notes' organization is as follows: a summary of M&R's entire book is provided, summarizing and identifying book sections of interest to weavers a...

The flux of emerging aquatic insects from streams can provide a significant energy subsidy to riparian web-building spiders. However, despite the high temporality of aquatic insect emergence, the effects of such aquatic insect dynamics on spider distribution are poorly understood. To examine the relationship, the aquatic insect flux from a headwater stream in a northern Japanese deciduous fores...

The rates of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide release of primitive hunters and weaver spiders, the Chilean Recluse spider Loxosceles laeta Nicolet (Araneae: Sicariidae) and the Chilean Tiger spider Scytodes globula Nicolet (Araneae: Scytodidae), are analyzed, and their relationship with body mass is studied. The results are compared with the metabolic data available for other spiders. A lo...