Green Lynx Spider--Tom S., Austin, TX pg 4: This image portrays the spider's epigynum, book lungs, and epigastric furrow. While not definitive of these structures, the image shows more than is apparent. Note two orangish spots, one in the lower foreground, the other in the upper background. These are sclerotized areas over the spider's single pair of book lungs. Next notice the pale line running from the lower middle of the image to the right, curving past the purplish blotch to the other orangish spot: this is the epigastric furrow, a slit through which air passes into the spider's body to the book lungs, where gas exchange occurs before the air is exhausted. The purplish blotch is in the region of the epigynum, the external copulatory openings of the female. In most entelegyne spiders, the architecture of the epigynum is unobstructed and, for the analyst, is diagnostic of the species. In Peucetia viridans, and perhaps in P. longipalpis, the male does two things that make it difficult to observe the epigynum once mating occurs. After injecting sperm into the female's seminal receptacles, the male applies a resinous plug to the atria that helps to foil a later attempt at insemination. Then, as added insurance against dilution of its sperm by another, the male inserts the apical paracymbium of its pedipalp into the plugged epigynal atrium and snaps it off. The purplish blotch shown in this image is, most likely, the emblem of a male's long-past but successful insemination event----NEXT PAGE------PAGE MENU:  1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 ----- SNAKE ENCOUNTERS * SPIDER ENCOUNTERS *  SPIDER BITE FIRST AID * SPIDER EXTERMINATION * Created & edited by Jerry Cates: Questions? Corrections? Comments? BUG ME RIGHT NOW! ---- Ph: 512-331-1111 ---- E-Mail ---- Privacy ---- BugsInTheNews