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Reproductive behaviour of wolf spiders of the genus Alopecosa (Araneae: Lycosidae)
Just, Pavel ; Dolejš, Petr (advisor) ; Hajer, Jaromír (referee)
In my master's thesis, I deal with reproduction of central European wolf spiders of the genus Alopecosa. Here I present patterns and duration of courtship behaviour and copulation of 15 members of the genus Alopecosa. Such information were never published before. I recognized 17 courtship elements, six of them are described here for the first time. Duration of copulation, number of palpal insertions and number of hematodochal expansions of 15 species were examined. The obtained data were analyzed, courtship and copulations among species and species groups are discussed. Courtship behaviour of two sibling species, A. striatipes and A. mariae, is compared, as well as differences in reproduction of Czech and Italian populations of A. accentuata. Based on courtship behaviour, I propose placing Alopecosa psammophila in a striatipes group. Stridulatory apparatus on male pedipalps was not detected, however, some pegs on vetral side of the abdomen in males of Alopecosa pinteroum were found. These pegs could serve as a source of vibratory signals. The thesis provides some new remarks on ecology of members of the genus Alopecosa and contains faunistical information, including those on the recent occurrence of some of the rarest Czech spiders.
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