Abstract
Intraguild predation have rarely been documented in scientific literature, even though this type of interaction can affect population dynamics and competition. In this study we present an intraguild predation event that occurred at different times, but in the same cave, where we observed spiders of the species Enoploctenus cyclotorax preying on specimens of assassin bug Zelurus diasi. Inside the studied caves, food resources are scarce and populations can be fairly small in size. It is possible, therefore, that these events are the result of ecological pressures imposed by the hypogean environment.
Highlights
In the Neotropical region, research that aimed to elucidate the relationships among cave species are even scarcer and little is known about how such interactions can influence the communities present in the hypogean environment (Ferreira and Martins 1999; Bernardi et al 2010; Souza-Silva and Ferreira 2014; Resende and Bichuette 2016; Vasconcelos et al 2017)
In this study, we report the occurrence of intraguild predation events involving a spider species (Araneae: Ctenidae: Enoploctenus cyclotorax) (Bertkau 1880) and an assassin bug species (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Zelurus diasi) (Costa Lima 1940) (Figure 1), in a limestone cave located in the Sete Lagoas municipality, Minas Gerais state, Brazil (Figure 2)
The first record was during the dry season, in September 2016, when a female of Enoploctenus cyclotorax was spotted preying on an adult Zelurus diasi
Summary
The study of ecological interactions is essential to understand how subterranean communities are assembled, few studies addressing this theme have been conducted so far. In this study, we report the occurrence of intraguild predation events involving a spider species (Araneae: Ctenidae: Enoploctenus cyclotorax) (Bertkau 1880) and an assassin bug species (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Zelurus diasi) (Costa Lima 1940) (Figure 1), in a limestone cave located in the Sete Lagoas municipality, Minas Gerais state, Brazil (Figure 2). We observed the intraguild predation events during a cave fauna monitoring project involving 26 caves near a mining area.
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