HABITAT STRUCTURE AND COLONIAL BEHAVIOR 
IN METEPE1RA SPINIPES (ARANEAE: ARANEIDAE) 
AN ORB WEAVING SPIDER FROM MEXICO 
By George W. Uetz' and J. Wesley Burgess * 2 
Introduction 
The topic of social phenomena in spiders has received much 
attention in the literature recently (Shear 1970; Kullman 1972; Bur¬ 
gess 1976, 1978; Buskirk, in press). Colonial, communal and cooper¬ 
ative behaviors have been observed in a variety of families and 
genera, mostly from tropical and subtropical regions around the 
world. Among the species of group-living spiders found in Mexico 
and Central America is Metepeira spinipes F. Pickard-Cambridge, 
an araneid reported to be the only colonial species in its genus (Levi 
1977). We observed large numbers of these spiders in Central Mex¬ 
ico in 1975, and were able to collect some data, which we present 
here. 
Methods and Study Area 
The site of our observations was Tepotzotlan, Mexico, located 35 
km North of Mexico City. The area is an agricultural valley sur¬ 
rounded by mountains (thus the habitat must be considered “dis¬ 
turbed” by the activities of humans). Major agricultural activities 
include cultivation of corn’ and maguey (an Agave sp. grown to 
make pulque, a fermented beverage) with open range grazing of 
cattle, and several feedlots. Our visit took place in late July 1975 
during the rainy season. Temperatures were typically warm during 
the day (20-30° C) and cool at night (5-15°C). It generally rained 
once a day in the late afternoon 15— 17h pm CST). 
Metepeira spinipes spiders were studied in 3 sites, all located near 
the KOA campground where we stayed. One site, a’roadside, con¬ 
tained a variety of types of vegetation, including Agave, Opuntia, 
45'>2i ePartment ° f Bi ° l0giCal Sciences ' University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2 North Carolina Mental Health Research, Raleigh, North Carolina 27611 [Present 
address: Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California 
95616]. 
Manuscript received by the editor June 28, 1979 
79 
