3 new species collected in house!!!

[Tbone192]

I was in the basement today and I saw a small hobo spider, Eratigena agrestis, and when I removed its cover to collect it 3 more hobo spiders. I collected all of them but 2 of them immediately got killed by the others when I plopped them into the enclosure, not even eaten. Can I keep this species communally? The large male and large female seem to get along fine.

The next species I found a while ago and this is Philodromus vulgaris or running crab spider. They are doing well and eating regularly still have not sexed it but suspect female.

Lastly, I collected a male noble false widow Steatoda nobilis and am searching the house for a female.

All very cool finds IMO. If anyone has any thoughts or advice please post.

 

[SpookySpooder]

>>2 of them immediately got killed by the others when I plopped them into the enclosure, not even eaten.

>>Can I keep this species communally?

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say no.

 

[jbooth]

I've got the biggest yellow sac spider I've ever seen living in a roach bin, a black widow under the spider shelf and another under my desk, not sure which species haven't gotten a good look at them, and a Parson's spider somewhere I saw this morning, it might be the one that was living with the I. mira lol. Guess maybe I'll catch up the widows one of these nights, the web under my desk is getting a bit close to my toes.

 

[Tbone192]

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say no.

When I found them, four were living withing the same square foot. The male and female seem to mostly avoid each other. Thought as much just thought I'd check.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Yeah, AFAIK there no communal arachnid species. There are quite a few species around the world observed living in close proximity in what is falsely associated with "communal" behavior, but really it is just "frenemies living in close proximity"

M. balfouri and N. incei are good examples of this

 

[Wolfram1]

well, there actually are social spiders, quite a few species in africa actually

"communal" is a flawed term anyway

 

[SpookySpooder]

You sent me down a rabbit hole that kept me up til 2 AM. Watching synchronized hunting in social spider megawebs is too fascinating!

Super interesting to find out that only a handful of species are social, and mostly only rainforest species. Also interesting to note that spiders do better "genetically as a species" as loners. Being that spider colonies are genetically isolated and prone to collapse.

Awesome stuff.

 

[Wolfram1]

You sent me down a rabbit hole that kept me up til 2 AM. Watching synchronized hunting in social spider megawebs is too fascinating!

Super interesting to find out that only a handful of species are social, and mostly only rainforest species. Also interesting to note that spiders do better "genetically as a species" as loners. Being that spider colonies are genetically isolated and prone to collapse.

Awesome stuff.

you are welcome

 

[Tbone192]

Apparently certain species, while not known for being social, will firm colonies in captivity. Maybe it is reversed for hobo spiders. They were peaceful until placed into an enclosure. But the male and female seem comfortable sitting right next to each other in peace. There is much research to be done I suppose.

Also check out Bagheera kiplingi. Herbivorous and quasi-social

 

[SpookySpooder]

I think something that could have played a factor is the removal from their shared web.

This is just my idea, so don't burn me at the stake for it.

Observing social spiders hunt in their shared web was fascinating, one mechanism I noticed that was unilaterally displayed amongst many social species was that they moved in a synchronized motion and timing when traversing the web in search of prey.

It goes: scurry in one direction, stop abruptly, pause to sense vibrations, repeat. Every spider on the web manages to synchronize this complex hunting behavior by following a simple set of rules, just like other social insects.

So my theory is that on the web, they can communicate to each other as well as sense each other's presence and 'intent' better. This might give them a sense of security or calmness knowing that the other entity who can eat them is sitting way over there not making a peep.

You rip them from that, throw them into a foreign environment with no web too close to another spider I can see that being a reason they might attack each other.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I've got the biggest yellow sac spider I've ever seen living in a roach bin, a black widow under the spider shelf and another under my desk, not sure which species haven't gotten a good look at them, and a Parson's spider somewhere I saw this morning, it might be the one that was living with the I. mira lol. Guess maybe I'll catch up the widows one of these nights, the web under my desk is getting a bit close to my toes.

I don’t see many house spiders just those creepy house centipedes with all those long legs lol …

 

[Biollantefan54]

The genus Anelosimus lived in the US and I’ve found it here in NC, this is a social spider that doesn’t live in a rainforest, I have found them in shrubs by my house

 

[Tbone192]

Update on my Eratigena agrestis pair. They are doing really well together. The male killed a beetle grub and gave it to the female. They are often right next to each other and just seem to relax there. Could they maybe be somewhat communal or just mating?Important to note it is more of a spectrum of communal behaviours that a species exhibits as opposed to just being communal or not species.
Ex. Deer are communal and so are beavers. They have different behaviors though, deer will care for babies that don't belong to them. Whereas beavers tend to live in strict family groups. Both communal but in very different ways.

 

[Caveternal]

I was in the basement today and I saw a small hobo spider, Eratigena agrestis, and when I removed its cover to collect it 3 more hobo spiders. I collected all of them but 2 of them immediately got killed by the others when I plopped them into the enclosure, not even eaten. Can I keep this species communally? The large male and large female seem to get along fine.

The next species I found a while ago and this is Philodromus vulgaris or running crab spider. They are doing well and eating regularly still have not sexed it but suspect female.

Lastly, I collected a male noble false widow Steatoda nobilis and am searching the house for a female.

All very cool finds IMO. If anyone has any thoughts or advice please post.

These types and others similar, like tegeneria domestica are my favorite spiders. I wish there were more stores that actually sold them. In always looking fir T.Domestica species but hardly every find any only a couple of times in the inner urban area here. I search out in the country in the woods on weekends at times but never have seen any.

 

[Tbone192]

Agreed, I find T domesticus occasionally around my house often in similar places as E agrestis. The E agrestis may just be easier to find due to their size and tendency to leave their funnels to find food more. Gotta say they are a lot of fun to watch especially if you have them in an enclosure. Mine have already made some nice funnels on their cork bark. They also make for a great biological control against flies and such.