Pseudoscopula in Ischnothele annulata (Araneae, Mygalomorphae): evaluating structure and function in sexual communication

• Grant number: 18/00610-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2018
• End date: July 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Morphology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: José Paulo Leite Guadanucci
• Grantee: Juliana Paneczko Jurgilas
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Spiders are generally non-social creatures, with little visual accuracy, aggressive and potential cannibal predators. These features could have acted as selective pressure for distinct forms of long distance communication, such as chemical and/or vibratory signals. Pheromones are one example of signal used during intersexual communication in spiders, being chemically characterized in four species of araneomorphs. The emission of such pheromones are made by females through the web, or, with less frequency, by the cuticle. It has already been reported for araneomorophs the presence of chemosensory setae on the dorsal side of the palps and/or all segments. Recent studies have brought new evidences of the presence of chemosensory setae on tarsi of Mygalomorphae spiders, being great candidates to pheromone reception because of their exclusive presence in males, location on tarsi (functional region during courtship), and great morphological similarity with the chemosensory setae reported in mygalomorph species. Therefore, the present project proposes a more detailed study of these setae, using Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy, combined with bioassays of sexual behavior, in order to verify the possible function of these setae in the reproductive biology of these animals. (AU)

Academic Publications

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

JURGILAS, Juliana Paneczko. Pseudoscopula in Ischonothele annulata (Araneae, Mygalomorphae): evaluating structure and functionality in sexual communication. 2019. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Instituto de Biociências. Rio Claro Rio Claro.