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Blood and fluid balance of the common tarantula, Dugesiella hentzi

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Summary

  1. 1.

    Blood of Dugesiella hentzi, the common tarantula of the United States, was analyzed. Protein concentration of serum averaged 74 mg/ml with hemocyanin the major constituent since the Cu/protein ratio of 0.00175 is close to that of purified hemocyanin from other arthropods. Concentrations of non-protein nitrogen, glucose, and total anthrone reactive material were 0.32, 0.04, and 0.13 mg/ml respectively. Freezing point depression of the serum was 0.75° C and pH ranged from 7.25 to 7.35.

  2. 2.

    Blood volumes of males and females expressed as percent of body weight averaged 19.65 and 18.10% respectively. Water content of females was about 73.2% of body weight. Fat content averaged 10.3% of body weight. Exoskeleton represented 5.8% of body weight with a water content of 40%. A value of 74.7% was calculated for intracellular water.

  3. 3.

    Evaporation rates were determined. During the first hour of exposure to moving dry air, 0.168 mg/cm2/hr was lost at 20° C increasing to 0.915 mg/cm2/hr at 40° C. By the fifth hour of exposure these losses had decreased to 0.088 mg/cm2/hr at 20° C and 0.674 mg/cm2/hr at 40° C (Fig. 1).

  4. 4.

    Drinking habits in the laboratory were observed. Fed regularly, 2 crickets per week, the spiders usually drank once weekly, soon after eating. Volumes taken varied from a few mg to more than 1 g. Fasted spiders drank somewhat more, tending to maintain constant weight; the contribution of metabolic water was only 5% of the total.

  5. 5.

    Desiccation for periods to 1 week resulted in approximately 20% decreases in both blood volume and body weight. This represents a loss of 27% of the total body water and a decrease of only 9.4% in intracellular water.

  6. 6.

    After removal of 15–50% of the total blood volume, entry of fluid diluted the remaining blood and the normal volume was restored by about 3 weeks after bleeding. Synthesis of blood protein was slow. Not until after two months was the protein level back to the initial level. Protein synthesis averaged 0.0064 mg/g/day when 20–36% of the initial blood volume had been removed.

  7. 7.

    Results suggest that when a loss of body contents occurs from bleeding, egg laying or withholding of food, these animals replace the lost volume with water.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

    Doris M. Stewart & Arthur W. Martin

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  1. Doris M. Stewart
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  2. Arthur W. Martin
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This study supported by grant GB-8522 of the National Science Foundation.

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Stewart, D.M., Martin, A.W. Blood and fluid balance of the common tarantula, Dugesiella hentzi . Z. Vergl. Physiol. 70, 223–246 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00297748

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00297748

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