Gea eff

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

{{Short description|Species of spider}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = RMNH.ARA.9129 Gea eff Levi (cropped).jpg

|image_caption = Specimen of G. eff preserved in alcohol

|genus = Gea

|species = eff

|authority = Levi, 1983{{sfn|Levi|1983|pp=324–326}}

}}

Gea eff is a species of orb-weaver spider. It is found in Papua New Guinea. The arachnologist Herbert Walter Levi formally described the species in 1983. While it was still undescribed, Michael H. Robinson and colleagues reported on its courtship and mating behaviors. Gea eff has the shortest scientific name of any spider species.

Taxonomic history

According to Herbert Walter Levi, specimens which Władysław Kulczyński illustrated and tentatively identified as Gea subarmata in the 1910s were in fact G. eff.{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=324}}

Publications by Michael H. Robinson and colleagues in the 1970s and 1980s referred to specimens they found in Wau, Papua New Guinea as belonging to an undescribed taxon. They had enlisted the Capuchin friar Chrysanthus to identify spider specimens and he realized this constituted a new species; he died in 1972 before able to further study it, but thought it belonged to the genus Argiope.{{sfn|Robinson|Robinson|1974|pp=146, 158}} Robinson and colleagues referred to it as "Species 'F{{'"}} or "Argiope sp. F".{{sfn|Levi|1983|pp=324–326}}{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1a2=Robinson|1y=1974|1pp=146–147|2a1=Robinson|2a2=Lubin|2a3=Robinson|2y=1974|2pp=125–126|3a1=Robinson|3a2=Robinson|3y=1980|3pp=71, 111}} Robinson and colleagues later thought it might be in the genus Gea after noticing the similarity to Gea heptagon; after Levi confirmed its generic placement, they subsequently called it "Gea sp. Wau No. 1".{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=260}}{{sfn|Robinson|Robinson|1980|pp=10, 111–116}}

The species was formally described by Levi in 1983; he named it Gea eff.{{sfn|Levi|1983|pp=324–326}} Levi listed the etymology for the specific epithet, eff, as being "an arbitrary combination of letters".{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=324}} Gea eff has the shortest scientific name of all spider species, with a length of only six characters. The female holotype and three female paratypes were deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology.{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=324}}

Distribution

The type locality is McAdam Park, near Wau, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=326}} G. eff spiders were recorded in the Wau Valley as part of a year-long transect study by Robinson and colleagues.{{sfn|Robinson|Lubin|Robinson|1974|pp=134–140}} Additional specimens have been collected elsewhere in Morobe Province, as well as in Madang Province and Central Province. In addition to these locations on the island of New Guinea, G. eff has been found on Tagula Island in the Louisiade Archipelago and on the island of New Britain.{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=326}} It is found in tall grass. Specimens have been collected in coconut plantations as well as in forest.{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=324}}

Description

G. eff is a "very small" species.{{sfn|Robinson|Robinson|1974|p=147}} The female is 2.2 times bigger than the male. It is one of the least sexually dimorphic species of the subfamily Argiopinae. The female has a total length of 6.6 mm; it has a brown carapace, a light-colored head, a black sternum with a white longitudinal stripe, and banded legs.{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=324}} The male has a total length of 3.0 mm; its carapace, sternum, and legs are beige, and its dorsum has two white spots.{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=324}}

Behavior

Gea eff builds its webs in the herbaceous layer.{{sfn|Robinson|Robinson|1974|p=131}} It creates a stabilimentum, or web decoration,{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=321}} consisting of an X-shaped pattern, with zig-zag bands forming a cross, which does not block the hub of the web.{{sfn|Robinson|Robinson|1974|p=126}} Their webs are "relatively durable".{{sfn|Robinson|Robinson|1974|p=131}}

Robinson and Robinson placed G. eff in "Group C", meaning it had "advanced" courtship and mating behaviors.{{sfn|Levi|1983|p=260}} G. eff engages in courtship on a mating thread outside the orb-web. It is a sexual cannibal and has an average copulation duration of 0.9 minutes. Sexual cannibalism occurs before copulation. The rate has not been determined as it has only been observed anecdotally.

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite journal |last1=Elgar |first1=Mark A. |title=Sexual Cannibalism, Size Dimorphism, and Courtship Behavior in Orb-Weaving Spiders (Araneidae) |journal=Evolution |date=1991 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=444–448 |doi=10.1111/j.1558-5646.1991.tb04419.x |doi-access=free |jstor=2409679}}

{{cite book |last1=Elgar |first1=M.A. |editor1-last=Elgar |editor1-first=M.A. |editor2-last=Crespi |editor2-first=B.J. |title=Cannibalism: Ecology and Evolution Among Diverse Taxa |date=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |chapter=Sexual cannibalism in spiders and other invertebrates |page=132}}

{{cite book |last1=Elgar |first1=Mark A. |chapter=The duration of copulation in spiders: comparative patterns |series=Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement |date=1995 |volume=52 |page=10 |chapter-url=https://museum.wa.gov.au/research/records-supplements/records/duration-copulation-spiders-comparative-patterns |title=Australasian Spiders and Their Relatives: Papers Honouring Barbara York Main |editor-last=Harvey |editor-first=Mark S. |location=Perth |publisher=Western Australian Museum}}

{{cite journal |last1=Leibensperger |first1=Laura B. |title=Herbert Walter Levi (1921–2014) and Lorna Levi (1928–2014) |journal=Breviora |date=2016 |volume=551 |issue=1 |page=24 |doi=10.3099/MCZ28.1}}

{{cite journal|last=Kulczyński |first=W. |date=1910 |title=Araneae et Arachnoidea Arthrogastra |journal=Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften: Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe |volume=85 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35845250 |pages=392–394, Pl. [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35845356 17], Figs. 3–4}}

{{cite journal|last=Kulczyński |first=W. |date=1911 |title=Spinnen aus Nord-Neu-Guinea |journal=Nova Guinea: Résultats de l'expédition scientifique néerlandaise à la Nouvelle-Guinée en 1903 |volume=5. Zoologie |issue=4 |pages=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40348666 476], [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40348718 518], Pl. [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40348723 20], Figs. 48–49}}

{{cite journal |last1=Herberstein |first1=M. E. |last2=Craig |first2=C. L. |last3=Coddington |first3=J. A. |last4=Elgar |first4=M. A. |title=The functional significance of silk decorations of orb-web spiders: a critical review of the empirical evidence |journal=Biological Reviews |date=2007 |volume=75 |issue=4 |page=655 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.2000.tb00056.x |hdl=10088/4445 |hdl-access=free }}

{{cite journal|author=World Spider Catalog|title=Gea eff Levi, 1983|url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/species/4088|website=World Spider Catalog|publisher=Natural History Museum Bern|accessdate=23 January 2022|location=Bern|date=2022|version=23.0 |doi=10.24436/2}}

{{cite journal |last1=Mammola |first1=Stefano |last2=Michalik |first2=Peter |last3=Hebets |first3=Eileen A. |last4=Isaia |first4=Marco |title=Record breaking achievements by spiders and the scientists who study them |journal=PeerJ |date=2017 |volume=5 |page=e3972 |doi=10.7717/peerj.3972 |doi-access=free |pmc=5668680 }}

{{cite journal |last1=Hormiga |first1=Gustavo |last2=Scharff |first2=Nikolaj |last3=Coddington |first3=Jonathan A. |title=The Phylogenetic Basis of Sexual Size Dimorphism in Orb-Weaving Spiders (Araneae, Orbiculariae) |journal=Systematic Biology |date=2000 |volume=49 |issue=3 |page=458 |doi=10.1080/10635159950127330 |doi-access=free |jstor=2585381 |hdl=10088/4447|hdl-access=free}}

}}

=Works cited=

{{refbegin}}

  • {{cite journal|title=The Orb-Weaver Genera Argiope, Gea, and Neogea from the Western Pacific Region (Araneae: Araneidae, Argiopinae) | last=Levi |first=Herbert W. |date=1983 |volume=150 |issue=5 |journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4313663#page/275/mode/1up |pages=247–338}}
  • {{cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=Barbara C. |last2=Robinson |first2=Michael H. |title=The biology of some Argiope species from New Guinea: predatory behaviour and stabilimentum construction (Araneae: Araneidae) |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |date=1974 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=145–159 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1974.tb00796.x}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Robinson |first1=Michael H. |first2=Barbara |last2=Robinson |date=1980 |title=Comparative Studies of the Courtship and Mating Behavior of Tropical Araneid Spiders |series=Pacific Insects Monographs |url=http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pim/pdf/pim36.pdf |volume=36}}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Robinson |first1=Michael H. |first2=Y. D. |last2=Lubin |first3=Barbara |last3=Robinson |date=1974 |title=Phenology, Natural History and Species Diversity of Web-Building Spiders on Three Transects at Wau, New Guinea |journal=Pacific Insects |volume=16 |issue=2–3 |pages=117–163 |url=http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pi/pdf/16(2)-117.pdf}}

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Category:Araneidae

Category:Spiders of New Guinea

Category:Fauna of New Britain

Category:Spiders described in 1983