Cheiracanthium inclusum

Geographic Range

Yellow sac spiders (sometimes known as agrarian sac spiders) are found throughout North and South America, including Mexico and the West Indies, United States, and southern Canada. There are also accounts of yellow sac spiders being found in Africa, which indicates that it may be an introduced species to that continent.

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic nearctic
  • introduced introduced
• ethiopian ethiopian
  • introduced introduced

Habitat

Yellow sac spiders form silk tube-like sacs under ground debris and within man-made structures, hiding within these tubes during the day. Alternatively, the spiders may roll themselves up in leaves or other debris during daytime hours or in other tight places providing protection. This species occupies a wide variety of habitats, including trees, forest floors, fruit orchards and other agricultural areas, and shrubs surrounding open fields (most of the biomes within the United States).

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland savanna or grassland
• forest forest

• Other Habitat Features
• urban urban
• suburban suburban
• agricultural agricultural

Physical Description

Yellow sac spiders are typically cream to light yellow in color, sometimes with an orange-brown stripe running lengthwise across the abdomen. While individuals are uniform in base color, their chelicerae, tarsi, and pedipalps are dark brown. The body color is partially determined by their diet; individuals known to feed on house flies are noticeably more gray in color, while those who feed on red-eyed fruit flies take on a reddish tinge, and so forth. Females are slightly larger than males, 5-10 mm and 4-8 mm, respectively. Although females' bodies are slightly larger and more robust, males have a larger leg span. The front pair of legs in particular are longer and are used in capturing prey.

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic ectothermic
• heterothermic heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry
• venomous venomous

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

Development

Mating season is assumed to be during the summer months, due to increasing populations observed during this time. After mating, females produce egg sacs within about 14 days, guarding the eggs and immature spiders for about 17 days, repeating this process multiple times during breeding season. Throughout develpment, yellow sac spiders undergo molting in order to grow, usually from within the protection of their silk sacs. These spiders overwinter as juveniles in the safety of these silk sacs, molting and achieving adulthood in late spring and emerging from the egg sac.

Reproduction

Males seek out females during breeding season (early summer) and up to 30% of males are killed and eaten by the females after breeding. Females typically mate only once but produce multiple egg sacs (as many as 5, each containing approximately 40 eggs) during June/July; they enclose themselves in the egg sac in order to defend the eggs/young.

• Mating System
• monogamous monogamous

Female yellow sac spiders desposit their eggs in loose silk sacs within their webs in June or July, roughly 14 days after mating. They then stay with their young for roughly 17 days. Males and females typically reach maturity at 119 days and 134 days respectively, though time until maturity varies from 65 to 273 days depending on environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, and day length).

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• seasonal breeding seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• fertilization fertilization
  • internal internal
• oviparous oviparous

Females remain in the egg sac for 17 days on average to protect their eggs and young.

• Parental Investment
• precocial precocial
• female parental care female parental care
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

There is no currently available information regarding the lifespan of yellow sac spiders.

Behavior

Yellow sac spiders are nocturnal, spending the day in their nest-like silk sacs and hunting at night. They are most active during the spring and summer and are known to balloon from or create bridges between structures using a strand of silk. Juveniles tend to say in the egg sac during the winter but do venture out in order to feed. These spiders do not rely on webs but instead actively hunt, using their longer front legs in capturing prey. They inject prey with cytotoxic venom using their fangs (part of the chelicerae), beginning the digestive process, then using their sucking stomachs to feed.

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal arboreal
• scansorial
• cursorial
• terricolous
• nocturnal nocturnal
• motile motile
• solitary solitary

Home Range

Localized to the surrounding areas of their silk sacs.

Communication and Perception

This species has eight simple eyes aligned in two rows of four, consisting of secondary and primary eyes. Secondary eyes are light sensitive and adept at tracking movement. Primary eyes are the only set of movable eyes and are used to view objects within a close proximity. Spiders can dectect touch, vibrations, and smells through various setae connected to their nervous system.

• Communication Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile

• Other Communication Modes
• vibrations vibrations

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• vibrations vibrations
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Yellow sac spiders prey upon anthropods such as leafhoppers ( Erythroneura variabilis ), fleahoppers ( Pseudomatoscelis seriatus ), fruit flies ( Drosophila sp)and cotton plant bugs ( Creontiades signatus ) as well as eggs of lepidopterans such as Helicoverpa zea and Plutella xylostella . They have also been known to prey on other spiders including Anyphaena pacifica and Theridion melanurum . Aside from their predatory diet, these spiders consume nectar as they forage. Nectar consumption elevates fitness through increased survival, growth, and fecundity, especially during periods of prey scarcity. Incorporation of nectar into the diet can also accelerate sexual maturity and enhance offspring volume.

• Primary Diet
• carnivore carnivore
  • insectivore insectivore
  • eats non-insect arthropods

• Animal Foods
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

• Plant Foods
• nectar

Predation

As these spiders are nocturnal, hiding in their silken sacs during the day, protecting them from predation, there is currently no information available regarding specific predators of this species.

Ecosystem Roles

Yellow sac spiders are secondary consumers and are valuable anti-pest predators in agricultural ecosystems, particularly in vineyards, apple orchards and cotton fields.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

These spiders are vital predators of agricultural pests; their presences results in higher crop yields and greater financial gain.

• Positive Impacts
• controls pest population

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Yellow sac spiders are regularly found in close proximity to humans, within homes or during outdoor activities. They possess a cytotoxic venom, which can have necrotizing effects. Although necrotic legions are rare, these spiders may be quite aggressive, particularly females defending eggs, and can administer painful bites that may require medical attention.

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings
  • venomous venomous
• household pest

Conservation Status

This species currently has no special conservation status.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Drew Murphy (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Jeremy Wright (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

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