RE: NANFA-- Diving Spiders

Hoover, Jan J WES (HOOVERJ_at_wes.army.mil)
Fri, 11 Feb 2000 11:01:07 -0600

The true diving bell spider (Argyroneta [or Argyronecta?]auatica) is from
Europe. Its a species of funnel-weaving spider. Some North American
funnel-weavers are semi-aquatic and at least one writer has suggested that
they may exhibit similar behavior but I do not think that this has ever been
confirmed.

Most of our water spiders are fisher spiders and wolf spiders.

-----Original Message-----
From: Whitlock, Steve
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2000 9:47 AM
To: 'nanfa_at_aquaria.net'
Subject: RE: NANFA-- Diving Spiders

I've seen these in Louisiana before, but I've forgot their name.

SW

-----Original Message-----
From: DasArm_at_aol.com
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2000 10:23 PM
To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
Subject: NANFA-- Diving Spiders

I saw an interesting segment about diving spiders, Arguenetta (not sure
about
spelling). It was on an Animal Planet Safari episode entitled "Insects: The
Crawling Kingdom" (or something like that). It showed this great video
footage of diving spiders utilizing these underwater diving bells like a
diver's oxygen tank; it would go inside it to eat damselfly larvae that it
had caught. It would periodically refill the bell with more air, it would go

up for air itself, and it also spun webs underwater, yet still pursue its
prey underwater. It was somewhat unusual in that its abdomen looked like a
rounded ball of glass. It is not to be confused with the fishing spider of
North America, which can go underwater for forty-five minutes by trapping
oxygen on hairs all over its body. The fishing spider spends more time out
of
water than the diving spider does, and is larger and less spindly-legged
than
the diving spider. What I am wondering is, does anyone know if the diving
spider is from North America? I didn't catch the location. I think that it
might be from Europe but I'm not sure.

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/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
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/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org