Rr. Jackson et al., PREY-CAPTURE TECHNIQUES AND PREY PREFERENCES OF 9 SPECIES OF ANT-EATING JUMPING SPIDERS (ARANEAE, SALTICIDAE) FROM THE PHILIPPINES, New Zealand journal of zoology, 25(3), 1998, pp. 249-272
Siler sp., Euophrys sp. 1 and 2, and six species of Chalcotropis feed
on ants in nature. Capture techniques and preferences of each species
were studied in the laboratory using a wide variety of ants and other
insects. Siler sp. usually attacked ants, but not other insects, from
directly behind. Euophrys sp. 1 and 2 consistently attacked ants, but
not other insects, head on. Chalcotropis attacked large ants head on,
but there was no particular orientation of attacks on small ants or on
other prey regardless of size. All species tended to stab ants, but n
ot other prey, several times before holding on. In three types of prey
-preference tests, each of the nine salticid species took dolichoderin
e, formicine, myrmicine, ponerine, and pseudomyrmecine ants in prefere
nce to a variety of other insects (aphids, bugs, caterpillars, cockroa
ches, crickets, flies, gnats, lacewings, mantises, may flies, midges,
mosquitoes, moths, plant and leafhoppers, plant lice, and termites). T
esting with laboratory-reared spiders showed that the development of p
reference for ants and ant-specific prey-capture behaviour did not dep
end on prior experience with ants. Each species was shown in tests wit
h dead, motionless lures to be capable of distinguishing between ants
and other types of prey independent of the different movement patterns
of the prey. Findings are discussed in relation to other studies on s
pecialised salticids and in relation to the structure and function of
the salticid eye.