Does tarantula webbing contain pheromones?

[LucasNorth]

Recently I was looking after a friend of mines A. versicolor sling, While I was setting up a little enclosure I kept the sling within a recently used enclosure by my larger A. versicolor. Upon entering the cage it immediatedly went inside of the web tunnel that my tarantula had left behind about a week ago and hid in there, normally I would just assume that it was seeking shelter from the obvious stress of relocation however within about 10 minutes it was webbing the inside of the tunnel quite alot (there was lots of room within the tunnel.) My question is wether or not tarantulas mark their webs to let other tarantulas know about their presence? or so they recognize their own webbing if they walked over it.

 

[jbm150]

I would imagine they do have some way of recognizing their own webbing (as opposed to webbing in general) and I believe they have chemoreceptors on the undersides of their foot pads to accomplish this. Do they sense their own webbing's inherent "flavor" or is their scent a result of them living on it (ie the scent comes after they've layed the webbing)?

I've never tried it but I'd be curious to see how a T would react if I were to put a piece of another T's webbing in their enclosure....

 

[LucasNorth]

Exactly, I originally had wondered this when my 3 H. incei would "trade" tunnels occasionally. I ended up leaving the versicolor in the enclosure because of how it settled in, never left the tunnel that was made by the older versicolor and as a personal observation acted like any tarantula that you return to its enclosure (bolting to the hide.) I know of the chemoreceptors on tarantula feet, I feel that chemical scent would allow for male tarantulas of a given species to be able to know that its at the right species shag shack.
Im all speculation and assumption though so I hope someone can tune in with some relevant info

 

[jayefbe]

I know some people will add webbing from a female to a MM's enclosure to try to get him to make a sperm web and get him primed for breeding. Whether it has a real effect, I don't know. Also, I'm not sure if it's something within the silk itself or if pheromones are added or accumulated within the silk after it's laid.

 

[Ciphor]

To answer your question, yes.

"Female spiders emit cuticular and/or silk-based sex pheromones, which can be airborne or received via contact with chemoreceptors on male pedipalps. Airborne pheromones primarily attract males or elicit male searching behaviour. Contact pheromones stimulate male courtship behaviour and provide specific information about the emitter's identity."

Good summary of spider pheromones here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17313523 A lot of studies have been done on it which go into greater detail if you want to know more.

I have in my day witnessed some strange stuff. I have seen a male hobo attempting to mate with a mature female giant house spider, getting consistently turned down when attempting insertion, yet was allowed to tap his palps on her abdomen. She never killed him either, just kept scurrying away.