20th International Congress of Arachnology

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DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE REPORTS | No. 3, July 2, 2016
He used the taxonomical rank of “tribe” and assigned
all ground spiders to 10 tribes. In current research,
use additional characteristics to classify ground spiders,
including structures of covering setae, trichobothria, the
tarsal organ, additional structures on spinnerets, and
structure of male palps and female genital organs.
Keywords: phylogeny, ground spiders, Gnaphosidae
Poster presentation
Overview of cave spiders in Croatia - 150
years of research
Martina Pavlek
Ruđ er Bošković Institute, Bijenička 54, 10000 Zagreb,
Croatia and Croatian Biosopeleological Society,
Demetrova 1, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Cave spider research in Croatia goes back to 1862
when Keyserling described first troglobiotic species for
Croatia, Hadites tegenarioides. Władysław Kulczyń ski
described three and Josef Kratochvil, a famous Czech
arachnologist, described 14 cave species, some of
them with Karel Absolon and František Miller. Most
recent explorer was Christa Deeleman-Reinhold who
described six species. From the faunistic point of view,
except for already mentioned authors, Paolo Marcello
Brignoli also contributed. At the present time research-
ers from Croatian Biospeleological Society (CBSS)
perform systematic work in this field. Of approximately
9000 explored caves in Croatian karst (prediction is
three times as much), CBSS collection holds spider
material from about 1000 of them. At the moment
115 hypogean taxa are recorded from caves in Croatia,
90 of which are true cave taxa (43 troglobionts, 47
troglophiles), 9 are subtroglophiles and 16 microcav-
ernicolus. Most abundant families are Linyphiidae (46
species), Dysderidae (16), Agelenidae (13 and Lep-
tonetidae (10). Thirty-five species are described from
Croatia and 27 are endemic. Of 90 cave taxa, 23 (13
troglobionts) are probably new for science and waiting
to be described.
Keywords: cave spiders, Croatia, troglobionts, faunistics,
biodiversity
Oral presentation
Reproductive biology of scorpions: pat-
terns and mechanisms of sexual selection
Alfredo V. Peretti, Paola Olivero, David E. Vrech
Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (CONICET).
Laboratorio de Biología reproductiva y Evolución,
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales,
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Av. Vélez Sarsfield
299 (5012), Córdoba, Argentina
In the last years, there was an increase in research oriented
to sexual selection of scorpions. However, the knowledge
remains partial and fragmented: 1) few global studies in a
worldwide context, in particular in comparative analyses;
2) lack of long-term investigations on key topics such as
mate choice, sperm competition, cryptic female choice, and
sexual conflict. In the present talk, firstly, I will review the
history of the study of reproductive biology of scorpions by
means of a detailed survey. Secondly, I will show examples
on presence of precopulatory and postcopulatory sexual
selection, including morphological and ecological traits. In
these two contexts, I will analyze our baseline knowledge
and gaps on: a) patterns of intersexual communication; b)
genitalia and mating plugs; c) links between precopulatory
and postcopulatory mechanisms; d) rules and exceptions
in reproductive ecology (sexual sting, sexual cannibalism).
For example, some studies show that during the precopu-
latory phase, scorpion males appear to use luring rather
than coercive behaviors when facing resisting females.
In postcopulatory sexual interactions, as predicted by the
sperm competition theory, testes mass increases with higher
levels of sperm competition. The review ends with prospects
for integrative studies on proximate and ultimate causes of
sexual selection.
Keywords: reproduction, sexual selection, behavior,
mating plugs, sperm competition, scorpions
Poster presentation
Level of polygyny and associated repro-
ductive costs in a funnel-web lycosid
Alfredo V. Peretti1,2, Macarena González 3, Débora Abregú1
1Laboratorio de Biología Reproductiva, Cátedra de
20th International Congress of Arachnology