Cyrtophora citricola
Encyclopedia
Cyrtophora citricola, also known as the Tropica Tent-Web Spider, is an araneid spider
that occurs in the warmer parts of Europe
, Asia
and Africa
, but also Australia
, Costa Rica
, Hispaniola
and Colombia
. It can now also be found in other parts, such as Florida
, where it was first found in 2000.
Although it is in the family commonly called Orb Web Spiders, this spider does not build orb webs. Their horizontal web forms a cone in the middle, with many support lines holding it. The web is not sticky, and spiral and radials are constructed from the same silk. Unless in orb webs, all cells in the web are rectangular.
C. citricolas color may vary greatly; whereas many sport a black and white pattern, others are brown, males sometimes appear black. The females resemble a piece of dead leaf, and will sometimes hide in debris that has fallen into the web. Body length in females normally reaches 10 mm, with males only 3 mm long. Many females can build their webs in close vicinity, and colonies with hundreds of individuals have been observed. Colonial C. citricola were found to catch the same amount of prey with smaller webs, compared to solitary specimens. Colonies often consist of the offspring of a single female, that do not disperse after hatching.
Adult males do not build webs and stop eating. They die shortly after mating. Females may live long enough to guard their young, but sometimes die before hatching occurs. The flattened, elliptical egg sacs are up to 20 mm long, with a bluish to greenish hue, and up to ten egg sacs can be produced by a female.
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
that occurs in the warmer parts of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, but also Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. It can now also be found in other parts, such as Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, where it was first found in 2000.
Although it is in the family commonly called Orb Web Spiders, this spider does not build orb webs. Their horizontal web forms a cone in the middle, with many support lines holding it. The web is not sticky, and spiral and radials are constructed from the same silk. Unless in orb webs, all cells in the web are rectangular.
C. citricolas color may vary greatly; whereas many sport a black and white pattern, others are brown, males sometimes appear black. The females resemble a piece of dead leaf, and will sometimes hide in debris that has fallen into the web. Body length in females normally reaches 10 mm, with males only 3 mm long. Many females can build their webs in close vicinity, and colonies with hundreds of individuals have been observed. Colonial C. citricola were found to catch the same amount of prey with smaller webs, compared to solitary specimens. Colonies often consist of the offspring of a single female, that do not disperse after hatching.
Adult males do not build webs and stop eating. They die shortly after mating. Females may live long enough to guard their young, but sometimes die before hatching occurs. The flattened, elliptical egg sacs are up to 20 mm long, with a bluish to greenish hue, and up to ten egg sacs can be produced by a female.