Social organisation ofScytodes fusca, a communal web-building spitting spider (Araneae, Scytodidae) from Queensland

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Abstract
The basic social organisation of Scytodes fusca, a spitting spider from North Queensland, Australia, is described from observations in the laboratory and nature. This species is shown to be communal-territorial. In nature, it lives in large web complexes consisting of discrete web units connected to each other by interstitial silk. Similar web complexes are built in the laboratory, where web units are defended as territories. In the laboratory and nature, mother-offspring associations are the most common inhabitants of the web units. Males and large juveniles are found more often on the interstitial webbing than are females. Females practise a primitive form of parental care by dragging prey back to juveniles in the nest and leaving these prey for the juveniles to feed upon. The possible evolution of the social organisation of S. fusca from parent-neonate associations is discussed.