BIOTIC ASSOCIATIONS OF COCKROACHES — ROTH & WILLIS 21$ 



Family SPARASSIDAE 

 Heteropoda venatoria (Linnaeus) 



Synonymy. — Heteropoda regia Fabricius. 



Common riames. — Banana spider (Conistock, 191 2) ; huntsman 

 spider (Gertsch, 1949) ; big brown house spider (Bryan, 1915). 



Natural and experimental prey. — Cockroaches, Bermuda (Verrill, 

 1902); Puerto Rico (Sein, 1923; Wolcott, 1924a; Petrunkevitch, 

 1930a) ; Hawaii (Bryan, 1915. Williams et al., 1931) ; British 

 Guiana (Moore in Williams et al., 1931) ; Panama (Gertsch, 1949) ; 

 New Zealand (adventive) (Parrott, 1952) ; England (Cloudsley- 

 Thompson, 1953); Comstock (1912) ; Hawaii (Pemberton, 1917). 



This (pi. 30, A) is a tropical species frequently imported into 

 northern localities with bunches of bananas (Comstock, 191 2 ; Clouds- 

 ley-Thompson, 1953). Adults measure 3 to 4 inches across with 

 bodies over an inch long. They seldom leave their resting places 

 during the day, but are active at night and search for food. The fe- 

 male does not spin a web (Bryan, 1915 ; Gertsch, 1949). The spider 

 turns the cockroach over onto its back at the instant of seizure and 

 holds it firmly against the substrate. The cockroach dies in 10 minutes 

 and is gradually rolled up by the spider as it sucks out the nutriment 

 (Moore in Williams et al., 1931). The spider does not attempt to 

 bite when captured, but if it does, its bite is said to be painful but not 

 dangerous (Cloudsley-Thompson, 1953). Zimmerman (1948) found 

 scores of Periplaneta australasiae breeding in rock piles in Hawaii; 

 also present were large numbers of these spiders and centipedes which 

 presumably preyed upon the cockroaches. 



Family THERIDHDAE 

 Latrodectus indistinctus Pickard-Cambridge 



Common name. — Button spider. 



Natural prey. — Karnyia discoidalis, South Africa, Western Cape 

 Province (Hesse, 1942) : The nest is constructed on the ground 

 among grass stems or other vegetation. Preferred sites are slight 

 hollows, hoof imprints, etc. Nests are roughly tubular. The remains 

 of insects are entangled in the walls of the nest where they form dense 

 accumulations. Predatory activities of the spider are limited to an area 

 close to the tubular entrance to the nest and do not extend beyond the 

 trapping strands near the entrance. Capture is dependent upon ac- 

 cidental contact of the insect with sticky threads surrounding the en- 

 trance. This spider apparently attacks any insect or arachnid that be- 



