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Trap-door Spider

Ummidia nidulans


Where is it found?

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Picture
Forests in the West Indies

Diet and foraging method

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Trapdoor spiders are sit and wait predators, when a small arthropod wanders near to the trap the spider will jump out using powerful rear legs and eat it. 
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Picture
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Key adaptations

Trapdoor spiders have extra barbs on their legs used for burrowing. Some trapdoor species (not Ummidia nidulans) have a hard rear plate on the opisthosoma to discourage invaders.

Social organisation and mating system

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Solitary
​The male can overcome the females aggressiveness and enter the trap, but it is not known how.

Did you know that...?

Trapdoor spiders are prey to a few species of specialized wasp, who gain entrance to the burrow and lay an egg in the spider, the larvae of which eat the spider alive.

Taxonomy

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Sources:

"TrapDoorSpiderDorsal" by Davefoc - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TrapDoorSpiderDorsal.jpg#/media/File:TrapDoorSpiderDorsal.jpg
"TrapDoorSpiderVentral" by Davefoc - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TrapDoorSpiderVentral.JPG#/media/File:TrapDoorSpiderVentral.JPG
"Trap door spider". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trap_door_spider.jpg#/media/File:Trap_door_spider.jpg
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