bowl-and-doily spider

(Frontinella pyramitela)

Conservation Status
bowl-and-doily spider
Photo by Babette Kis
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Bowl-and-doily spider is a common, small, sheet weaving spider. It occurs throughout North America and Central America, but it is most common in the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains and west of the Rocky Mountains. It is found in sphagnum bogs, where it is very common, but also in black spruce/tamarack bogs, pine woodlands, shrubby areas, and areas with tall grasses; at woodland edges; and on shrubs in people’s yards.

The female is (3.0 to 4.0 mm) in length and has a to ½ (9 to 12 mm) legspan.

The front part of the body (cephalothorax) is egg-shaped when viewed from above and flat when viewed from the side. There are eight eyes arranged in two parallel rows of four eyes each. All of the eyes are about the same size. The back (posterior) row is distinctly curved, the front (anterior) row is nearly straight. In the posterior row the middle (median) eyes (PME) are slightly closer to each other than they are to the outer (lateral) eyes (PLE). The median ocular area (MOA), the area defined by the middle four eyes, is as wide or only slightly narrower in front than behind. The mouthparts (chelicerae), corresponding to the jaws, are strong. Each fang rests in a furrow between two ridges (margins). The outer, forward-facing margin (promargin) has five or six teeth. The inner, rearward-facing margin (retromargin), closest to the mouth, has five very small teeth. The exoskeletal plate (carapace) covering the cephalothorax is uniformly dark brown. The plate on the underside of the cephalothorax (sternum) is longer than wide.

The abdomen is oblong, longer than wide, and about as high in back as in front. The shape is highly variable, depending on how well fed the spider is and whether it is carrying eggs. It is white with a broad dark brown stripe in the middle. Several dark lines run down each side of the abdomen and usually extend up to the stripe. The underside of the abdomen is dark brown.

The legs are long, slender, spiny, and pale yellowish-tan. On the front legs the seventh segment (tarsus) is one half to two-thirds as long as the sixth segment (metatarsus). There are three minute claws at the end of the tarsus but these are not visible without magnification.

The male is slightly smaller, (3.0 to 3.3 mm) in length. The head is somewhat higher. The chelicerae have two or three promarginal teeth and four or five retromarginal teeth.

 
     
 

Size

 
 

Female Body Length: (3.0 to 4.0 mm)

Male Body Length: (3.0 to 3.3 mm)

Legspan: to ½ (9 to 12 mm)

 
     
 

Web

 
 

The web typically consists of a “finger-bowl-like” web suspended below a much larger, flat, almost horizontal sheet of irregular, tangled threads. This is the feature that gives the species its common name. The web is built in low branches of trees, in shrubs, and in tall grasses. The spider clings upside down under the center of the bowl. When an insect hits one of the tangled threads, it falls into the bowl. The spider then pulls it through the bottom and carries it to the sheet to consume it.

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Pine woodlands, woodland edges, shrubby areas, areas with tall grasses, and yards

 
     
 
Biology
 
 

Season

 
 

 

 
     
 

Behavior

 
 

Females and males are often found using a single web. This is one of just a few spider species in which the male and female share a web.

Spiderlings disperse in the fall by “ballooning”. They climb a branch, blade of grass, or fencepost, and release a long thread of silk. The silk thread catches the wind or even a light breeze and the spiderling floats, often a great distance, to a new site.

 
     
 

Life Cycle

 
 

 

 
     
 

Food

 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

 
  4/24/2023      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Common

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Class Arachnida (arachnids)  
 

Order

Araneae (spiders)  
 

Suborder

Araneomorphae (typical spiders)  
  Infraorder Entelegynae (entelegyne spiders)  
  Superfamily Araneoidea  
 

Family

Linyphiidae (sheetweb and dwarf spiders)  
 

Subfamily

Linyphiinae (sheet-weavers)  
 

Genus

Frontinella  
       
 

This species was first described in 1841 as Frontinella pyramitela. It was separately described in 1850 as Linyphia communis. It was later determined that they were the same species. Today, most sources use the name Frontinella pyramitela, but some use the name Frontinella communis.

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Frontinella communis

Linyphia communis

Linyphia pyramitela

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

bowl and doily weaver

bowl-and-doily spider

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Carapace

The hard, upper (dorsal), shell-like covering (exoskeleton) of the body or at least the thorax of many arthropods and of turtles and tortoises. On crustaceans, it covers the cephalothorax. On spiders, the top of the cephalothorax made from a series of fused sclerites.

 

Cephalothorax

The front part of the body of various arthropods, composed of the head region and the thoracic area fused together. Eyes, legs, and antennae are attached to this part.

 

Chelicerae

The pair of stout mouthparts, corresponding to jaws, in arachnids and other arthropods in the subphylum Chelicerata.

 

Metatarsus

The sixth segment of a spider leg.

 

Tarsus

On insects, the last two to five subdivisions of the leg, attached to the tibia; the foot. On spiders, the last segment of the leg. Plural: tarsi.

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Babette Kis

 
 

I was looking through your spider species list, and didn't find this dwarf spider listed. BugGuide does have photos from Minnesota.

It's a tiny critter, about 2 1/2 mm long, but the webs are often found.

  bowl-and-doily spider  
           
    bowl-and-doily spider   bowl-and-doily spider  
           
 
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Other Videos
 
  A Bowl and Doily Spider (Frontinella pyramitela)
Kahanu Ermeyas-Tulu
 
   
 
About

Apr 23, 2023

 
  Bowl and Doily Spiders: NARRATED
Jo Alwood
 
   
 
About

Oct 20, 2015

Here's a bowl and a doily your grandmother would envy--if she didn't scream.

 

 

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Created: 4/24/2023

Last Updated:

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