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Journal of Experimental Biology 92,305-321 (1981)
Published by Company of Biologists 1981

Locomotion in Burrowing and Vagrant Wolf Spiders (Lycosidae)

T. M. WARD ¹ and W. F. HUMPHREYS ²

¹ School of Biological Sciences, Bath University Bath, Avon BA2 7AY, England
² School of Biological Sciences, Bath University Bath, Avon BA2 7AY, England; Western Australian Museum, Francis Street, Perth, W.A. 6000, Australia

Locomotion in the vagrant wolf spider Trochosa ruricola is compared to that in the burrow dwelling wolf spider Lycosa tarentula (Araneae: Lycosidae). L. tarentula takes relatively shorter steps than T. ruricola. At high speeds T. ruricola approximates an alternating tetrapod gait but this does not occur in L. tarentula. Phase lag differs between species and varies marginally with speed except for ipsilateral phase lags in L. tarentula which are erratic if they include leg 1. In both species the protraction/retraction ratio is directly related to both running speed and stepping frequency, but the relationship is more marked in L. tarentula. The protraction/retraction ratio is more variable in leg 1 and varies between legs along the body but by a greater amount in L. tarentula. In these spiders, in contrast to the situation in many insects, both the duration of protraction and retraction show marked inverse relationships to stepping frequency. The power stroke (retraction) occupies a variable proportion of the stepping cycle, which is not the case in other spiders, and this proportion is lower than for other spiders.

It is suggested that the first pair of legs is used more for sensory than for locomotory purpose and that this is more marked in the burrow dwelling species, L. tarentula.

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