Reproduction
Much like other spiders, the Meta Menardi
spider, has a very similar reproduction cycle with all other
spiders that begin their mating season early in the summer
(ESA, 2012). There are three main objectives that the male
and female Meta menardi spider must accomplish in order to
successfully reproduce:
1) the male Meta menardi finds a female
Meta menardi
2) the male Meta menardi must successfully
court the female and inject his sperm into the female
3) lastly the female lays the eggs into a silk cocoon that
she has created and protects them until her eggs hatch (Earth
Life Web, 2014).
Being a solitary organism, the Meta menardi spider must go in
search of a mate. This is accomplished through the chemical
output of the female Meta menardi spider. These chemicals
produced by the female signals the male spiders that it is
mating time and also disclose her location for the males to find
her and impregnate her (How Stuff Works Web, 2014). The female Meta menardi
produces the chemical pheromones on her silk web allowing for
the dispersion of the information traveling through the air.
After successfully locating a female, the male Meta menardi
begins courting her in order to get close enough to fertilize
the eggs with sperm, which is located on the underside of the
abdomen. Courting must be done, as it too is a signal to the
female that he wants to mate. While courting the male shows off
trying to impress the female and out compete other males, but
courting is also used because the male is incredible smaller
than the female therefor it maybe perceived as a prey rather
than a potential mate. Courting allows the female to
differentiate between prey and mate, however if the male is
unlucky he still maybe eaten by the female after she has allowed
him to mate with her..jpg)
Finally the female Meta menardi must lay her 200-300 eggs inside
of the silk
cocoon that she has created. The silk cocoon is used
as protection against the environment and is hung on the cave
walls and ceilings. The cocoon that the female make are
considerable strong and stretchable (Lepore et al. 2012). The cocoon
itself is usually about two to three centimeters in diameter
(ESA, 2012).
Though the cocoon has begun to break apart by the end of August,
the young spiders do not leave until spring (ESA, 2012). It
is argued that the young spiders, unlike its adult forms, are
attracted to light and therefore travel and came be found near
the entrance of caves (Smithers, 1995). This is an adaptation
that the Meta menardi lose upon aging as the light attraction is
meant for the young spiders the ability to disperse and spread
into new environments. Some of the newly hatched spiders will
proceed to move into new environments but some well stay in
their birthplace.