Particular Levels of Odors Released by Virgin Females Attract Conspecific Males of the Funnel-Web Spider Allagelena difficilis.

Female-released chemical signals are crucial clues for mate-searching males to locate and gain sexual receptivity of conspecific females. Abundant behavioral evidence indicates that female spiders release sex pheromones to guide mate-searching behavior of conspecific mature males. However, the chemical nature of spider pheromones is poorly understood. Females of the funnel-web spider, Allagelena difficilis, employ sit-and-wait tactics for mating. Field observations indicate that males leave their retreats to search for potential mates during the breeding season. Therefore, we investigated whether virgin females release a sex attractant to conspecific males and then explored the chemical nature of the female pheromone. Four fatty acids extracted from the female bodies (palmitic acid, linoleic acid, cis-vaccenic acid and stearic acid) constitute a multiple-component sex attractant to conspecific males in A. difficilis. Unexpectedly, mated females also produce the same fatty acids, but at trace levels. Two-choice experiments showed that males were significantly attracted by the blend of the four fatty acids in appropriate concentrations while avoiding the blend consisting of the same acids at very low concentrations, suggesting that mate-searching males are able to discriminate virgin females from mated females by the quantities of female-specific fatty acids in the funnel-web spider A. difficilis.

Four new coelotine species (Araneae, Agelenidae, Coelotinae) from South China, with the first description of the male of Coelotes septus Wang, Yin, Peng & Xie, 1990.

Four new species are described from Jinggang Mountain National Nature Reserve, Jiangxi Province of southern China: Draconarius lingdang sp. nov. (♂♀), D. substrophadatus sp. nov. (♀), Orumcekia cipingensis sp. nov. (♀) and Tonsilla shuikouensis sp. nov. (♀). Additionally, Coelotes septus Wang, Yin, Peng & Xie, 1990 is redescribed and its male is described for the first time.

A new record of the spider family Caponiidae from China (Arachnida, Araneae).

The family Caponiidae Simon, 1890 is reported for the first time from China. The total number of the known spider families from China increases to 72 with the addition of this family newly recorded in the present paper. Based on male and female specimens collected from Guangxi, China, Laoponiasaetosa Platnick & Jäger, 2008 is illustrated and a global distribution map is generated.