Minibeast Safari Key & Biographies a Few Common Spiders
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A Few Common Spiders Minibeast Safari Sheet Web Weavers Mygalomorph (“primitive”) Spiders Key & Biographies no legs body w/out visible segments body w/ visible segments ↑Bowl and Doily Spider (10) (Frontinella pyramiitela) False Tarantula (8) Turret Spider (9) CaCalisogalisoga llongitarsusongitarsus (AAtypoidestypoides spsp.).) snail (33) slug (34) Cobweb Weavers (16) earthworm (32) legs many pairs of legs ↑Filmy Dome Spider (11) (Neriene radiata) 15+ prs legs 1il/1 pair legs / segmen t 2il2 pairs legs / segmen t Black Widow Badumna sp. (12) Latrodectus hesperus (lacy web) pillbug (31) millipede (29) centipede (30) 4 pairs of legs pincer-like appendages body in 2 parts body in 1 part House Spider Achaearanea tepoidariorum False Widow Triangle Spider (17) Steatoda grossa (Uloborus sp.) Orb Weavers (19) scorpion (28) Hunting Spiders Spider (2-24) opilione (25) (see back) harvestman daddy long legs Crab Spider (w/ prey) tick (26) Wolf Spider (w/ egg sac) Camouflaged sit and mite (27) Runs to catch prey (14) wait predator (15) 3 pairs of legs … a different class … another booklet 2 pairs of tiny legs prepared by Gwen Heistand Jumping Spider (13) Cellar Spider↑ (18) for use in ACR Education programs Jumps at prey from above (family Pholcidae) California slender slamander (24) Soil/Leaf Litter Habitat 37 ↑Soil Food Web ↓Fallen Log Decomposition Nitrogen Fixation Have kids take a big, big breath •Most of what’s filling your lungs is nitrogen. •No plant, animal, or fungus can process N2 as a nitrogen source! •78% of every cubic meter of air is nitrogen (N2). •There are seven TONS of nitrogen (N2) over every meter of the Earth surface. •Over 99% of Earth’s nitrogen exists in the atmospheric pool as N2 gas. •N2 has strong, strong bonds. They’re not easy to break down. Most of the nitrogen that is “fixed” or converted to a useful form for the rest of life is done so by nitrogen-fixing bacteria •Essentially all of the nitrogen contained within our bodies has been funneled through nitrogen-fixing bacteria Where do you find nitrogen-fixing bacteria at ACR? •Root nodules on: Alder, Ceanothus, Lupine, Vetches & Peas, Wax Myy,rtle, Clover, Lotus •Some lichens (most jelly lichens) incorporate cyanobacteria rather than algae as their photobionts •Azolla (water fern) harbors cyanobacteria in its leaves •In the guts of termites •In symbiotic association with protozoa 35 1 One square meter of soil can contain more individual Table of Contents: organisms than all the humans that every lived! 1012 bacteria Minibeast Biographies 1012 protozoa 107 nematodes, springtails & mites 107 insects 1,000 earthworms 20,000 kilometers (12,427 miles) of fungal Taxonomic pg mycelia Group Critters # Arachnida spiders (see table of contents page 3) 2 harvestmen (opiliones) 25 Have the kids pace out one square meter (one square yard is ticks 26 about the same). You can tell them that there are more creatures mites 27 living in the top few inches of soil than all the humans that ever scorpions 28 lived. If you want to use the numbers above, you can talk about scientific notation. Use a stick and draw in the dirt a 10 with 12 Diplopoda millipedes 29 zeros after it! Chilopoda centipedes 30 Isopods woodlous, pillbugs 31 That’s 1,000,000,000,000 or 1 TRILLION bacteria. 1 TRILLION Annelida earthworms 32 protozoa. 10,000,000 or 10 MILLION nematodes springtails & Mollusca snails 33 mites. 10 MILLION insects. And 12 THOUSAND MILES of fungal slugs 34 mycelia. This is half the circumference of the earth in a single Things to take into the field 35 square meter of soil. One Square meter …. 36 Soil/Leaf Litter Habitat 37 The numbers are staggering, the biodiversity fascinating, and the potential for discovery unsurpassed by any other habitat on earth. Yet we have spent more time studying small patches of the moon and Mars than exploring the subterranean habitat of our own planet. What are the arthropods we find in the soil doing (how do they make their living?) Shredders / Detritivores (millipedes, isopods, termites, certain mites, roaches) Predators (spiders, pseudoscorpions, predatory mites, centipedes, predatory beetles and beetle larvae) Herbivores (cicada larvae, mole crickets, fly larvae (root maggots)) FlFd(Fungal Feeders (FiFungivores) (mos t spr ing ta ils, some m ites, silverfish) What about earthworms? What about fungus? 2 Spider External Anatomy 35 Things to take into the field: 1. something to hold leaf litter (white “frisbees” work well) 2. hand lenses 3. bug boxes or other collection vials to pass around interesting critters 4. It’s easy to make a sifter box: glue some wire mesh on the bottom of a shoe box (after cutting off the bottom). Sift leaf litter through this into something else (frisbee – or another show box). OR … you can just take some wire mesh. 5. index cards or scratch paper if you want the kids to record how many different kinds of things they see Remember to respect decaying logs: if it looks like it will fall apart if you turn it over or move it, leave it be. If you find a critter under a stone or a log, don’t put the object back on the critter, replace the log, stone and let the critter crawl back under. “When you scoop up a double handful of earth ... you will find th ousand s of i nvert eb rat e ani mal s, rangi ng i n size from clearly visible to microscopic, from ants and springtails to tardigrades and rotifers. The biology of most of the species you hold is unknown: we have only the vaguest idea of what they eat, what eats them, and the details of their life cycle, and probably nothing at all about their biochemistry and genetics. Some of the species might even lack scientific names. We have little concept of how important any of them are to our existence. Their study would certainly teach us new ppprinciples of science to the benefit of humanity.” Wilson, E. O. 1987. The little things that run the world: The importance and conservation of invertebrates. Conservation Biology 1:344-346. 34 Mollusca: Slugs TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Spider External Anatomy……………………………………………….. 2 slug eggs (laid in What Makes a Spider a Spider? / clutches of 3-50; will Types of Spiders (Mygalomorph vs Araneomorph spiders) ………….. 4 not lay eggs when Identification Characteristics water saturation in the Pedipalps…………………………………………………………... 5 soil is below 10%) Eyes………………………………………………………………. 6 Spinnerets……………………………………………………………….. 7 Mygalomorph Spiders Dipluridae: False Tarantula (Calisoga longitarsus) …………………… 8 Antrodiaetidae Turret Spiders (Atypoides sp.)…………………….… 9 Araneomorph Spiders Uloboridae Trianggple spider ( Uloborus sp.)…………………………….… 17 Linyphiidae: Sheet Web Weavers Bowl & Doily Spider (Frontinella sp.)……………………… 10 1. They poop out their sides (a result of torsion, see snails) Filmy Dome Spider (Neriene sp.)………………………… 11 2. They have a built-in continually growing radula (all gastropods Agelenidae: Funnel Web Spiders……………………………….... 12 do) to rasp plant material (some with 30,000 sharp backward Desidae: Badmuna sp. (From Australia)…………………………….. 12 pointing teeth). Theridiidae: Comb-footed Spiders 3. They move on a trail of slime … imagine if your whole body Black Widow or Western Widow (Latrodectus hesperus)…… 16 could produce mucus! Mucus is used for self-defense, False Widow (Steatoda grossa)………………………………. 16 moisture control, mating. navigation House Spider (Achaearanea tepidariorum)………………….. 16 4. Resting slugs can remain attached to a surface for many hours Pholcidae: Cellar Spiders ………………………………………... 18 … mucus under a resting slug contains a dense network of Araneidae: Orb Weavers …………………………………………. 19 fine fibers that keeps them from slipping. Debris Spider (Cyclosa sp.)………………………………….. 20 5. They move by making wave-like motions with the muscles Missing Triangle Spider (Zygiella sp.)…………………………21 of their foot. Tetrignathidae: Long-Jawed Spiders………………………..…… 22 6. Most of a slug’s active hours are devoted to eating, (fungi, (Hunting Spiders) lichens, algae, plants) consuming many times their body Lycosidae : Wolf Spiders …………………………..….……...…. 14 weight every day. Salticidae: Jumping Spiders …………………………....……….. 13 7. Love Darts! (see snails) Thomisidae: Crab Spiders ……………………………...………. 15 Spider Reproduction / Mating…………..…………………...….……… 25 Molting……………………………………………………….…….…….. 26 4 Mollusca: Snails 33 What Makes a Spider a Spider? •Abdominal silk glands and spinnerets •Males with palpal sperm transfer •Cheliceral venom glands All Arachnids (spiders, ticks, mites, opiliones, scorpions, whip scorpions, pseudoscorpions, sun spiders) have: •4 pairs of walking legs Helminthoggyplypta sp . •Two body segments (cephalothorax & abdomen) Haplotrema sp. Native Terrestrial Snails at Bouverie 2 Major Groups of Spiders Helminthoglypta sonoma: large dark colored snail (dark shell, flesh is Mygalomorph pinkish, seen on the Canyon Trail near Champagne tree) False tarantulas (and real ones) along with Haplotrema minima: small, light colored, flattened shell our turret spiders and trapdoor spiders are all part of a major grouping called 1. How is the shell made? The mantle of a snail has 3 lobes;;, muscular, mygalomorph spiders. These spiders sensory, and secretory. The secretory lobe produces the shell which is are considered to be more primitive. composed of 3 layers: Their fangs only move up and down 1. horny covering (perisotracum) comprised of protein; instead of side-to-side (they operate 2. prismatic layer comprised of polygonal prism of calcium parallel to the midline of their body, not carbonate; ppperpendicular to it) . So … m ygalomor phs 3. nacreous layer (also calcium carbonate) that is laid down in thin moves up and down need to rear up and come down on their sheets . prey, trapping them against a surface. 2. Snails (& slugs) are both male & female (hermaphroditic). 3. Love darts: Before delivering their sperm, many species (including Mygalomorphs have 2 pairs of book lungs (and only book lungs ) which garden snails) fire nasty-looking darts made of calcium carbonate into the distinguish them from all but one group of the “true spiders”. Mygalomorphs flesh of their mate. In the 1970s, scientists suggested that this was a gift also have long, segmented, spinnerets, which trail out behind their body to help the recipient raise its fertilized eggs.