Natural History and Population Ecology of Eustala perfida Mello-Leitão, 1947 (Araneae, Araneidae) in Serra do Japi, Jundiaí - SP

• Grant number: 11/15457-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: September 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: João Vasconcellos Neto
• Grantee: Yuri Fanchini Messas
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Many spiders live in narrowly defined environments, limited by physical conditions such as temperature, humidity, wind and light intensity, and also by biological factors such as type of vegetation, availability of prey, competitors and natural enemies. The family Araneidae is the main family of spiders that build orbicular webs. The spider of the present study, Eustala perfida, occurs preferentially inside the forest, along the trunks of trees, building its web in regions where there is a depression in the trunk. It has cryptic coloration similar to mosses and lichens, adaptation that confers dual advantage to the specie, as it would hardly be perceived by their prey and their predators. The lack of studies on this genus of spiders, their life history and ecological rolesit plays, led to the preparation of this project, which will be realized at the Serra Japi - Jundiaí (SP) and aims to elucidate aspects of the natural history and population ecology of Eustala perfida, such as spatial distribution, substrate specificity, phenology, population dynamics and diversity of prey.

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MESSAS, Y. F.; SOUZA, H. S.; GONZAGA, M. O.; VASCONCELLOS-NETO, J.. Spatial distribution and substrate selection by the orb-weaver spider Eustala perfida Mello-Leitao, 1947 (Araneae: Araneidae). Journal of Natural History, v. 48, n. 43-44, p. 2645-2660, NOV 25 2014. (11/15457-0, 11/15456-4, 11/02535-3, 11/02537-6)

MESSAS, YURI FANCHINI; SOUZA, HERBERT SILVA; GONZAGA, MARCELO O.; VASCONCELLOS-NETO, JOAO. Population dynamics of the bark-dwelling spider Eustala perfida Mello-Leitao, 1947 (Araneidae). Journal of Natural History, v. 51, n. 45-46, p. 2661-2679, 2017. (11/15457-0)

SOUZA, HEBERT DA SILVA; MESSAS, YURI FANCHINI; GONZAGA, MARCELO DE OLIVEIRA; VASCONCELLOS-NETO, JOAO. Substrate selection and spatial segregation by two congeneric species of Eustala (Araneae: Araneidae) in southeastern Brazil. JOURNAL OF ARACHNOLOGY, v. 43, n. 1, p. 59-66, 2015. (11/15457-0, 11/15456-4, 11/02535-3, 11/02537-6)

MESSAS, Y. F.; SOUZA, H. S.; GONZAGA, M. O.; VASCONCELLOS-NETO, J.. Spatial distribution and substrate selection by the orb-weaver spider Eustala perfida Mello-Leitao, 1947 (Araneae: Araneidae). Journal of Natural History, v. 48, n. 43-44, p. 16-pg., 2014-11-25. (11/02537-6, 11/15456-4, 11/15457-0, 11/02535-3)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MESSAS, Yuri Fanchini. Natural history and population ecology of Eustala perfida Mello-Leitão, 1947 (Araneae, Araneidae) in Serra do Japi, Jundiaí, São Paulo - Brazil. 2014. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia Campinas, SP.