POST-IMMOBILIZATION WRAPPING OF PREY 
BY LYCOSID SPIDERS OF THE 
HERBACEOUS STRATUM 1 
By Jerome S. Rovner and Susan J. Knost 
Department of Zoology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701 
The use of silk for wrapping prey is generally associated with 
those spiders that construct trapping webs; nevertheless, there are 
indications in the literature that wandering spiders sometimes use 
silk for this purpose. In some of the latter cases the silk is applied 
after the prey has been subdued by biting, a use corresponding to 
that of the diguetid and linyphiid web-weavers studied by Eberhard 
(1967). Post-immobilization wrapping in the latter two families 
was suggested to prevent the prey from falling out of the web during 
subsequent attacks (ibid.), and in araneid spiders to have the same 
and additional roles, depending on species and prey size (Robinson 
et al., 1969). The function of this behavior in the non-web-weaving 
ctenids (Melchers, 1963), theraphosids (Eberhard, 1967), and 
lycosids (Rovner, 1971) remained unknown and was the subject of 
the present study. Our findings suggested that post-immobilization 
wrapping by wandering spiders serves the same general function that 
it probably does in web-weavers — to prevent prey from dropping 
from the spider’s elevated location down to the ground whenever it 
is released from the chelicerae during feeding, grooming, or subse- 
quent capture attempts. 
Methods 
We observed individuals of Lycosa rabida Walckenaer (females 
— 12-19 mm), Lyoosa punctulata Hentz (females = 13-15 mm), 
and Schizocosa crassipes (Walckenaer) (females — 8-10 mm) for 
the presence of and nature of prey wrapping. Whereas S. crassipes 
was collected during spring on forest leaf litter, both species of 
Lycosa were found in grassy fields, L. rabida during the summer 
and L. punctulata during early fall. The spiders were collected in 
Athens Co., Ohio, USA. 
Spiders were housed individually in plastic cages (70 X 125 X 
70 mm high) with water available ad lib., and given mealworms 
(larvae of Tenebrio molitor) for maintenance feedings. Laboratory 
^This study was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant 
GB 35369 to J. S. Rovner. 
Manuscript received by the editor September 20, 1974. 
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