Energy Lost to the Exuviae During Molting of Lycosa Watsoni Gertsch (Araneae: Lycosidae)
Abstract
The loss of carbon compounds during molting for Lycosa watsoni was determined as percentage of total weight and total calories lost. The mass of exuviae from 20 spiders, from 1.3 to 4.7 mm carapace width ranged from 0.18 to 5.40 mg dry weight and from 4.4 to 10.6% of the total weight of spiders. The mass of exuviae as a % of body weight increased in the amount of material lost during successive molts and was linearly related to carapace width (y = 3.17 + 1.3x) and body weight (y = 5.51 + 0.06x). The caloric content of exuviae was 8.7 @+ 1.86 cal./mg dry weight and could amount to between 1.57 and 46.98 cal per molt over the range of spider sizes studied. Similar trends were observed from comparable data reported for the lycosid spider, Pardosa lugubris.Downloads
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