Larinioides cornutus

Geographic Range

Furrow spiders are a holartic species commonly found throughout North America, from northern Mexico, throughout the United States and into Canada, as well as southern and eastern Alaska. This species is also ubiquitous throughout Europe and western Asia. Smaller distributions exist in the Korean and Kamchatka penninsulas, eastern China, and Japan, as well as in parts of Africa including northeastern Algeria and Egypt. Single records also exist from Australia, Greenland, and Iceland.

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic nearctic
  • native native
• palearctic palearctic
  • native native
• oriental oriental
  • native native
• australian australian
  • introduced introduced

• Other Geographic Terms
• holarctic holarctic

Habitat

Furrow spiders are commonly found in moist areas near bodies of water or areas of dense vegetation. Man-made structures like barns, houses, and bridges also make ideal habitats for these spiders as they provide suitable coverage from the sun.

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate
• terrestrial terrestrial

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

• Wetlands
• marsh marsh

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

Physical Description

These orb weaving spiders have large, bulbous, oval-shaped abdomens, which are dorsoventrally flattened. The abdomen ranges in color including black, grey, red and olive, and the carapace features a lighter colored, arrow shaped pattern that points towards the cephalothorax. Their legs have a striped pattern matching the carapace and are covered in large hairs (macrosetae). The two pairs of forward legs are very long (typically equal to the entire body length) while their rear legs are shorter. Males tend to be smaller and lighter in color than females, ranging in size from 5 to 9 mm in length, while females range from 6 to 14 mm. Legspans for both sexes may range from 18 to 35 mm.

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

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• female more colorful

Development

Once eggs are fertilized by the male, female furrow spiders hide their egg sacs within large web cocoons on leaves. Fertilized eggs hatch in the cocoon within a month. Hatched spiderlings remain in the protective cocoon for two to three months until they reach maturity. When they have fully matured, spiderlings disperse in search of foraging opportunities.

Reproduction

Females furrow spiders produce a silken cocoon that can fit both male and female inside during copulation. Once it is made, females reside in this cocoon and emit pheromones, which males sense through chemoreceptors. Females carry unfertilized eggs inside the cocoon and, once inside the cocoon, males insert sperm into females using their pedipalps. Fertilized eggs, which are yellow in color, are then nested within an egg sac, which the female will place in a protected location such as the underside of a leaf. Further copulation may occur if a female has additional unfertilized eggs after mating once, provided a male is still present and protecting the hidden egg sac. Males are sometimes (but not always) killed and eaten following successive mating; regardless, they typically die soon after mating. Females die following egg laying, sometimes surviving until spiderlings have hatched from their cocoon.

• Mating System
• monogamous monogamous

When females are well fed, they focus on creating more eggs for reproduction rather than web construction. When food is difficult to find, no resources are put into producing unfertilized eggs or a silken cocoon for reproduction. Mating can occur from spring through fall and is usually only limited by resource availability.

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

Before any mating or egg fertilization takes place, females create a silken retreat in a protected location where eggs will be placed. After fertilization, mating pairs coexist and protect the cocoon for a time; both parents die at some point following copulation and egg laying, although survival time varies.

• Parental Investment
• male parental care male parental care
• female parental care female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • protecting
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

Furrow spiders are capable of surviving cold winter seasons. Although they most commonly reach maturity during the spring, they may reach maturity at any time during the year. These spiders may live up to two years.

Behavior

These spiders are solitary predators who build their webs close to damp vegetation or any man-made location sheltered from the sun. Their orb webs are typically low to the ground in shrubbery or between grasses and consist of 20-25 radii. Average mesh size is 5 mm with a total area ranging from 600 to 1100 cm^2. Furrow spiders remain at the hub of their webs or in nearby shade all day. Individuals ingest their web each night, recycling silk material to rebuild daily damage. When food is scarce, these spiders may make more or larger webs in a single night, in an effort to snare more prey. When food is abundant, they more often forego continual web creation and females invest solely in creating cocoons for reproduction.

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal arboreal
• terricolous
• nocturnal nocturnal
• motile motile
• sedentary sedentary
• solitary solitary

Home Range

These spiders are most often found on, or in close proximity to their webs, an area that ranges from 600-1100 cm^2.

Communication and Perception

Furrow spiders have a lower row of 6 eyes, paired horizontally across their heads, and an additional pair of eyes located directly above the center of the lower row. Females produce pheromones during mating season, which are detected by males through chemoreceptors. These spiders also are extremely sensitive to vibrations that they sense using macrosetate and filiform hairs along their legs (filiform hairs are also located on their abdomens). Small receptors called slit sensilla are arranged along their exoskeletons, detecting any pressure against their bodies.

• Communication Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• chemical chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones pheromones
• vibrations vibrations

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

Food Habits

These spiders are primarily insectivores. They use varying sizes of orb webs to capture prey during the day; prey items typically include damselflies ( Platycnemis pennipes ), gnats, and common mosquitoes ( Culex pipiens ). Like many arachnids, this species produces a venom in the anterior prosoma within a specialized gland which is connected to the chelicerae via small canals. Each chelicera has four pairs of teeth. Once snared and entangled within the orb web, furrow spiders wrap their prey in silk and immobilize it, injecting venom through their chelicerae, and transport it off the web. Digestive enzymes break down the prey's internal organs into a fluid form for consumption, leaving very little waste for excretion. Larger prey are stored in order to give digestive enzymes ample time to act.

• Primary Diet
• carnivore carnivore
  • insectivore insectivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Foraging Behavior
• stores or caches food stores or caches food

Predation

Many birds feed on these spiders, especially if they are not well hidden during the day. Larger insects such as black and yellow mud daubers ( Sceliphron caementarium ) are also predators of adult furrow spiders, while flesh fly larvae ( Sarcophaga sexpunctata )are known predators of their egg cocoons.

Ecosystem Roles

Furrow spiders are primarily predators of small insects and bugs. Their webs may keep populations of these animals in check, especially in man-made settings like barns, houses, and bridges.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Furrow spiders provide some assistance through their predation on insects considered to be pests by humans.

• Positive Impacts
• controls pest population

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Although venomous, these spiders only bite humans if their webs are threatened and, even then, bites are only superficial and do not typically require medical attention. There are no known adverse effects of furrow spiders on humans.

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

Conservation Status

This species is common throughout its range and currently has no special conservation status.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

John Gracely (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Jeremy Wright (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

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