Morphological adaptations of Porrhomma spiders (Araneae: Linyphiidae) inhabiting soil

0367923 - BC 2012 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Růžička, Vlastimil - Laška, V. - Mikula, J. - Tuf, I.H.
Morphological adaptations of Porrhomma spiders (Araneae: Linyphiidae) inhabiting soil.
Journal of Arachnology. Roč. 39, č. 2 (2011), s. 355-357. ISSN 0161-8202. E-ISSN 1937-2396
Grant - others:National Research Programme II(CZ) 2B06101
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50070508
Keywords : Araneae * soil profile * troglomorphisms
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
Impact factor: 0.626, year: 2011

We studied occurrence and morphological adaptations of two species of the genus Porrhomma down to soil depths of 135 cm. Porrhomma microps inhabited soil layers at depths between 5 and 135 cm. Porrhomma aff. myops was found at depths of 35–95 cm. Specimens of both species were depigmented and had highly reduced eyes. Compared with the epigean P. pygmaeum, P. myops, which inhabits scree and caves, exhibits significantly longer legs. We interpret it as an example of troglomorphism. Compared with the epigean P. pygmaeum, P. aff. myops is found deep in the soil, and exhibits a significantly smaller cephalothorax. We interpret this as edaphomorphism. We consider the edaphomorphic population of P. aff. myops to be a permanent soil inhabiters.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0202430