Growth and nest hole size preferences in immature southern house spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae): Are they constrained consumers?

Abstract

Summary In the laboratory, immature Kukulcania hibernalis (Hentz 1842) (Araneae: Filistatidae) exhibited a combination of isometric and positively allometric growth during the first 32 wk of life according to 9 measures of body size. When given an array of artificial holes to use as nest sites, spiders age 2, 8, and 24 wk tended to select holes proportionate to their body sizes. These findings raise the question of whether populations of K. hibernalis in the wild are constrained by the limited availability of suitably sized nest sites.