Bolas spider
tribe of spiders
A bolas spider is a member of the orb-weaver spider (family Araneidae) that, instead of spinning a typical orb web, hunts by using one or more sticky "capture blobs" on the end of a silk line, known as a "bolas". By swinging the bolas at flying male moths or moth flies nearby, the spider may snag its prey rather like a fisherman snagging a fish on a hook. Because of this, they are also called angling or fishing spiders (although the remotely related genus Dolomedes is also called a fishing spider). The prey is lured to the spider by the production of up to three sex pheromone-analogues.
Bolas spiders have been treated as either the whole or part of either the tribe "Mastophoreae" or Mastophorini, the subfamily Mastophorinae, or the informal group mastophorines. Recent studies show that the genus Celaenia, which does not use a bolas, belongs in the same taxonomic group.
Description
Bolas spiders are small nocturnal animals with conspicuous outgrowths on the upper (dorsal) surface of the cephalothorax. Mature females have a body length of 10–20 mm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in), while the males, which are much smaller, have a body length usually less than 2 mm (1⁄16 in). The abdomen of adult females is large relative to the cephalothorax, partially covering it. In some species, the female's abdomen is comparatively smooth, while in others it has humps and tubercules.
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