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Age-Specific Traits and a Post-Maturation Molt in Black Widow Spiders Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (Aranei, Theridiidae)

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Abstract

Age-specific traits in the black widow spiders Latrodectus tredecimguttatus from Crimea were studied. A post-maturation molt in black widow females was recorded for the first time. The somatic traits (body size and cuticle structure) in some adult females were found to be identical to those of juvenile specimens. Some females in the studied spider population may become mature 1 or 2 instars earlier than others, continue their growth, and molt when mature.

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Acknowledgments

I am sincerely grateful to M.A. Kovaleva (Sevastopol), N.M. Kovblyuk (Simferopol), the reviewer K.G. Mikhailov (Moscow), and the editors for their attention to the manuscript.

Funding

This work was carried out within the framework of the State research assignment AAAA-A18-118020890074-2 at the Institute of Marine Biological Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine Biological Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, 299011, Russia

    A. A. Nadolny

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  1. A. A. Nadolny
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Correspondence to A. A. Nadolny.

Additional information

Russian Text © The Author(s), 2019, published in Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 2019, Vol. 98, No. 8, pp. 865-868.

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Nadolny, A.A. Age-Specific Traits and a Post-Maturation Molt in Black Widow Spiders Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (Aranei, Theridiidae). Entmol. Rev. 99, 1227–1230 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0013873819080189

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0013873819080189

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