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Embryonic development and staging of the cobweb spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum C. L. Koch, 1841 (syn.: Achaearanea tepidariorum; Araneomorphae; Theridiidae)

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Abstract

The cobweb spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum (C. L. Koch, 1841; syn.: Achaearanea tepidariorum) has become an important study organism in developmental biology and evolution as well as in genetics. Besides Cupiennius salei, it has become a chelicerate model organism for evo-devo studies in recent years. However, a staging system taking into account the entire development, and detailed enough to apply to modern studies, is still required. Here we describe the embryonic development of P. tepidariorum and provide a staging system which allows easy recognition of the distinct stages using simple laboratory tools. Differences between P. tepidariorum and other chelicerates, primarily C. salei, are discussed. Furthermore, cocoon production and the first postembryonic moulting procedure are described. Schematic drawings of all stages are provided to ease stage recognition.

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Abbreviations

A:

Anus

AF:

Anterior furrow

al:

Anterior lateral eye

am:

Anterior median eye

ant:

Anterior

ASp:

Anterior spinneret

AT:

Anal tubercle

B:

Brain

BL:

Book lung system

Bp:

Blastoporus

bs:

Base

Ch:

Chelicera

Cho:

Chorion

Cu:

Cummulus

cx:

Coxa

DF:

Dorsal field

dor:

Dorsal

Ee:

Extra-embryonic region

EgF:

Epigastric furrow

en:

Endite

f:

Fang

fe:

Femur

GZ:

Growth zone

H:

Heart

L:

Walking leg

Lab:

Labium

lat:

Lateral

Lb:

Labrum

LB:

Limb bud

LF:

Lateral furrow

ls:

Lateral subdivision

med:

Median

ms:

Medial subdivision

MSp:

Median spinneret

mt:

Metatarsus

O:

Opisthosomal segment

Op:

Opisthosoma

P:

Pedipalp

pa:

Patella

Pc:

Precheliceral region

PcL:

Precheliceral lobe

Pet:

Petiolus

pl:

Posterior lateral eye

pm:

Posterior median eye

post:

Posterior

Pro:

Prosoma

PT:

Primary thickening

PS:

Prosomal shield

PSp:

Posterior spinneret

Sp:

Spinneret (Anlage)

Sto:

Stomodaeum

T:

Tail

ta:

Tarsus

Ter:

Tergite

ti:

Tibia

tr:

Trochanter

TrO:

Tracheal opening

ven:

Ventral

VS:

Ventral sulcus

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge A. McGregor (Oxford), M. Hilbrant (Oxford) and E. Schwager (Boston) for providing specimen of P. tepidariorum; H. Petarus (Botanical Garden, Freiburg) for allowing B. M. to collect spiders in the Botanical Garden; P. Nabavi (Freiburg) for a second determination of the ‘wild’ spiders as they are difficult to separate from Achaearanea simulans; K.-F. Fischbach (Freiburg) for providing his lab space and equipment in a non-bureaucratical and generous manner to B. M.; M. Helmstädter (Freiburg) for help with the cocoon production time lapse movie. N.-M. Prpic-Schäper (Göttingen), H. Oda and Y. Akiyama-Oda (both Osaka) provided very helpful comments on the first draft. Furthermore, H. Oda and Y. Akiyama-Oda allowed us generously to benefit from unpublished results. In addition, this article benefited from the constructive review by two anonymous reviewers. We thank J. Dunlop (Berlin) and R. Ashford (London) for improving the English. The study was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (MI 1389/1-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University, Mile End Road, Fogg building 4.16, E1 4NS, London, UK

    Beate Mittmann

  2. Institut für Neurogenetik, Albert Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Schänzlestr. 1, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Beate Mittmann

  3. Institut für Zoologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 2, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Carsten Wolff

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  1. Beate Mittmann
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Correspondence to Beate Mittmann or Carsten Wolff.

Additional information

Communicated by V. Hartenstein

Electronic supplementary materials

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

This movie shows the almost complete sequence of cocoon production by a female spider. (MPG 2880 kb)

This movie shows the embryonic development of four embryos at room temperature (about 22°C). The movie starts at early stage 1 with the earliest cleavages and ends in frame 250 with the germ disc stage 3. (MPG 9772 kb)

This movie shows the embryonic development of one embryo at room temperature (about 22°C). The movie starts at late stage 1 with the first cleavages and ends in frame 850 with the stage 10.1 (limb differentiation). (MPG 9457 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 1

This figure provides a table containing lateral views of all developmental stages of Parasteatoda tepidariorum including the numbers of hours after egg laying (hAEL) at 25°C as well as a comparison to previously defined stages of P. tepidariorum and the number of the more or less correlating stages of Cupiennius salei. (PDF 1529 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

This figure show schematic drawings of all embryonic stages of Parasteatoda tepidariorum in frontal and lateral view. For practical reasons, the postembryo is just presented in ventral view. 1: stages 1–7, 2: stages 8–13, 3: stages 14–15 and postembryo. The pedipalpal endite is accentuated by darker colour. (PDF 306 kb)

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Mittmann, B., Wolff, C. Embryonic development and staging of the cobweb spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum C. L. Koch, 1841 (syn.: Achaearanea tepidariorum; Araneomorphae; Theridiidae). Dev Genes Evol 222, 189–216 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-012-0401-0

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