Torino Fundamashi - Bird's Fundamashi

This spider belongs to the Arthropoda phylum, Arachnidae family, and Araneidae order. Females reach a body length of 10 mm and males 2 mm. Their abdomens are long and round, and when stationary, the cephalothorax and legs are barely visible. Their backs are yellow, and the abdomen is mostly white with a grey front, with grey round spots on both shoulders. During the day, they rest on the undersides of broadleaf trees and Japanese silver grass leaves with their legs tucked up, which looks like bird droppings on the leaves, hence the name. They spin their webs after sunset and take them down before sunrise, so for a long time it was not known that they did so. Their webs are coarse, horizontal, circular, and made up of several warp and weft threads. They are found in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. There are many species, including the large bird-eared fundamin, the red bird-eared fundamin, and the white-striped bird-eared fundamin, as well as the Tsushima bird-eared fundamin and the Sakaguchi bird-eared fundamin, which are in separate genus.

[Takeo Yaginuma]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

節足動物門クモ形綱真正クモ目コガネグモ科に属するクモ。体長は雌10ミリメートル、雄2ミリメートルに達し、腹部は横長で大きく丸く、静止していると頭胸部も脚(あし)もほとんど見えない。背中は黄色、腹部は前方が灰色で大部分は白色、両肩に灰色の丸い斑紋(はんもん)がある。日中、広葉樹やススキの葉裏に脚を縮めて止まっているようすが、葉についた鳥の糞(ふん)のようにみえるのでこの名がある。日没後に網を張り、日の出前に網を壊すので、長い間、網を張ることは知られなかった。網は目が粗く縦糸も横糸も数本の糸からなる水平円網である。本州、四国、九州に分布する。種類が多く、オオトリノフンダマシ、アカイロトリノフンダマシ、シロオビトリノフンダマシなどがあり、また別属のツシマトリノフンダマシ、サカグチトリノフンダマシなどもある。

［八木沼健夫］

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