Photoperiodic Control of Diapause and Climatic Adaptation of the House Spider, Achaearanea tepidariorum (Araneae, Theridiidae)

Abstract

To elucidate the climatic adaptation of the house spider, Achaearanea tepidariorum, the photoperiodic response regulating diapause and the overwintering stage were compared between the «temperate» Hirosaki and the «subtropical» Okinawa strains. Both strains could enter diapause in the nymphal and imaginal stages and photoperiod was a primary factor inducing it. In each strain, the critical photoperiod for diapause induction did not differ between nymphal and imaginal stages. There was, however, about 3 h difference in the critical photoperiod between the two strains. It was longer in the temperate strain than in the subtropical strain