 Female |
California trapdoor spider Bothriocyrtum californicum Araneae: Ctenizidae Upper Newport Bay, CA. Colony #1 | Colony #2 Copyright: Peter J. Bryant (pjbryant@uci.edu). Contact for originals. |
 Female: short, thick legs and a brown abdomen |
The California Trapdoor Spider constructs and lives in a silk-lined burrow, which is a vertical hollow tube up to about 3/4" wide and 8" deep. At the top is a D-shaped hinged lid, which fits very tightly into the opening. The door is kept closed most of the time. If a prey item (insect or other arthropod) comes close, the spider captures it and takes it into the burrow. The female never strays far from her burrow. In the Fall, males wander around looking for females. After mating, the female lays a batch of several hundred eggs, and after the spiderlings hatch she cares for them and feeds them over the first winter. Then they leave and make their own burrows. Trapdoor spiders are sometimes attacked by parasitic wasps, or by small mammals that dig up the burrows and eat the spiders. |
 Male: longer, thinner legs and a redder abdomen |
 Male |
 Male, showing pedipalps used for transferring sperm to the female |
|
 Trap door closed |
 Trap door opened by the photographer |
 Female attempting to close the trap door |
 Female inside a burrow that has been cut open. The trapdoor, at the top, has a beveled edge which fits tightly into the opening. |
 Female with spiderlings in the bottom of the burrow |
 Spiderlings in the bottom of the burrow. What do they eat? According to Michael Lubert, the mother feeds them with the excess of the food she captures until they are large enough to disperse. |
| Additional sites: Parasites of the Trap Door Spider Bothriocyrtum californicum (Araneae, Ctenizidae) by Martin G. Ramirez, Department of Biology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA 90045-8220 | |