Puente Biológico is a newly relaunched general biological journal from Panama. The journal, the first peer-reviewed scientific journal in Panama, is published by the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriqui and supported by the Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovacion (SENACYT).
Although still fledging and struggling with attracting authors and reviwers not affiliated with Universidad Nacional de Chiriqui, Puente Biológico has a professional set-up, accepts manuscripts in both English and Spanish and aims at three issues per year.
In the latest issue I have authored a small scientific article in Spanish that described the willingness to build webs in the laboratory in a range of orb-weavers (contact me for a pdf copy).
Hesselberg,T. 2010. Notas sobre la capacidad de construir telas orbiculares en el laboratorio por arañas neotropicales. Puente Biológico 3: 101-109.
RESUMEN
La tela orbicular es uno de los más impresionantes ejemplos de ingeniería encontrados en la naturaleza, especialmente cuando se toma en cuenta los diminutos cerebros que tienen las arañas. Su estructura bidimensional y su estatus semipermanente como registro del comportamiento de forrajeo, han resultado en muchos estudios científicos sobre las arañas tejedoras. Sin embargo, sorprendentemente solo pocas especies han sido investigadas en el laboratorio, donde estudios detallados sobre la geometría de la tela y el comportamiento de construcción, son más fáciles de estudiar que en el campo. Aquí describo la capacidad de 15 arañas de tela orbicular de seis familias, de construir telas en condiciones artificiales, e investigué en mayor detalle la frecuencia de construcción de telas en tres de esas especies; Cyclosa caroli,Eustala illicita y Nephila clavipes. Finalmente, basado en los resultados, sugiero que los Symphatognathidae, Philoponella republicana e E. illicita son adaptables para estudios futuros en laboratorio sobre el comportamiento de construcción de telas orbiculares y la geometría de éstas.
ABSTRACT
The orb web is one of the most impressive examples of engineering found in nature, especially when considering the tiny brains of their creators. The webs’ two-dimensional structure and their role as semi-permanent records of foraging behaviour have made the web-building spiders a focus of numerous studies. However, somewhat surprisingly only a limited number of species have been investigated in the laboratory, where detailed studies of web-geometry and web-building behaviour are significantly easier than in the field. Here I tested the ability of 15 orb spiders from six families to build webs under artificial conditions in the laboratory and investigated the web-building frequency in more detail for three of these species; Cyclosa caroli, Eustala illicita and Nephila clavipes. Finally, based on the result of this study, I suggest that symphytognaths, Philoponella republicana and E. illicita in particular would be well-suited for future laboratory based studies on web-building behaviour and orb-web geometry.
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