20th International Congress of Arachnology

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Nopinae by the form of labium and endites; the confor-
mation of male and female genitalia is also diagnostic.
Keywords: taxonomy, haplogynae, new species, Neotropics
Student - poster presentation
Spider population response to spatial-tempo-
ral variability in prey: Lake Mývatn, Iceland
*Jose A Sanchez-Ruiz1, Joseph Phillips2 , Arni Einarsson3,
Claudio Gratton4, Anthony Ives 2
1Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico-Rio
Piedras, PO BOX 70377, San Juan, PR, 00936-8377,
USA; 2 Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-
Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA; 3Institute of
Biology, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, 101
Reykjavik, Iceland; 4University of Wisconsin, Depart-
ment of Entomology 3111, Wisconsin Energy Institute
1552 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706, USA
In places where resources are scarce, competition leads
many organisms to engage in different types of behavior
to protect and efficiently exploit these resources. Spider,
although territorial, sometimes occur in aggregation and
adjust web size according to foraging necessities. Lake
Myvatn is known for its huge midge emergences. Spiders
aggregate near the lake to exploit this prey resource,
which varies in space and time. Our objective was to assess
the spider population’s behavioral response to this tem-
poral resource in relation to habitat and distance in Lake
Myvatn, Iceland. The orb weaver Lairinioides patagiatus
occurs in high densities near its shores. Three surveys,
considering midge emergence phenology, were conducted
for L. patagiatus abundance and web size along a dis-
tance gradient. Prey abundance and habitat and habitat
were accounted for as well. We found orb weaver abun-
dance to increase with habitat complexity and temporal
increases in prey availability, not distance. Web size was
found to decrease with prey availability through time. We
believe that L. patagiatus is responding behavioraly to
the incoming temporal subsidies from Lake Myvatn. Due
to the fact that food is generally limited, they aggregate
near the lake shores when the midges emerge. As prey
increases, food becomes a less limiting factor and spiders
become more abundant, which might suggest more toler-
ance of their conspecifics. Their change in behavior can
also be appreciated in the reduction of web size. When
food stops being a limiting factors, they invest less energy
in foraging, probably to allocate more to reproduction.
Spiders around Lake Myvatn have behaviorally adapted
to exploit efficiently available resources in an otherwise
resources lacking landscape.
Keywords: aggregation, foraging behavior, emergence,
Lairinioides patagiatus, midges, subsidies, web size
Student - oral presentation
Phylogeny of Selenocosmia crassipes
(Theraphosidae): combining morphology,
DNA and venom
*Renan Castro Santana1,2, Robert J. Raven2, Bryan G. Fry 1
1Floor 8th , Gerhmann Building, School of Biology,
University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 4072, Australia;
2Department of Terrestrial Environment, Queensland
Museum, Grey St, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane,
4101, Q. Australia
Most of Australia’s tarantulas were described around
1900’s, except Coremiocnemis tropix Raven, 2005. Perhaps
mostly because of their cryptic characters, a comprehen-
sive taxonomic revision has been neglected. Although
morphological work has been carried out, one species
group is still unresolved using morphological data alone.
Selenocosmia crassipes, possibly Phlogius crassipes,
is a species complex that occurs from Rockhampton to
the tip of Cape York in Queensland, Australia, a range of
more than 1500 km. To test how many species there may
be S. crassipes, molecular data has been extracted. Genes
CO1 and 16S has been sequenced (forward and reverse)
using traditional primers (CI-J-1751spid, C1-N-2776,
N1-J-12261, LR-N-13398). Also, proteomic fingerprint
of venom was done using LC/MS-MS, LC/MS, SDS-PAGE
of 1 dimension. CO1 and 16S Bayesian tree separated S.
crassipes into 3 clades, but one specimen are in different
clade on each tree. 16S and CO1 combined tree showed 3
clades that correspond exactly with the CO1 tree. LC/MS
venom data showed more similarity with 16S tree than
168 DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE REPORTS | No. 3, July 2, 2016
Cushing