Bowl and doily spider

Taxobox
name = Bowl and doily spider


image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Araneae
subordo = Araneomorphae
familia = Linyphiidae
genus = "Frontinella"
species = "F. communis"
binomial = "Frontinella communis"
binomial_authority = (Hentz, 1850)

The bowl and doily spider, "Frontinella communis", is a species of sheet weaver. It is a small spider, about 4 mm (0.2 inch) long, that weaves a fairly complex sheet web system consisting of an inverted dome shaped web, or "bowl", suspended above a horizontal sheet web, or "doily", hence its common name. The spider hangs from the underside of the "bowl", and bites through the web small flies, gnats and other small insects that fall down into the non-sticky webbing. The webs are commonly seen in weedy fields and in shrubs, and may often contain both a male and a female spider in late summer - like many linyphiids, Frontinella may cohabitate for some time.

The scientific name "F. pyramitela" is commonly seen, but this is a junior synonym [Platnick 2007] .

Footnotes

References

* (2007): [http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/index.html The world spider catalog] , version 8.0. "American Museum of Natural History".

External links

* [http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu/spiderweb/SpiderPictures/Linyphiidae/Frontinella%20pyramitela%20web.htm "Frontinella communis" web (photo)]