Abstract
AbstractArgyrodes gibbosus is a kleptoparasitic spider in the web of spiders. It generally steals freshly captured prey from the web of its host. In Sicily, Argyrodes gibbosus parasitizes webs of the spider Cyrtophora citricola, a facultative colonial species.When a C. citricola female was present in its web, Argyrodes caught small prey in the web or tried to rob prey captured by the host; in that case, we never observed successful attacks on host egg‐sacs. When the host disappeared from its web, the kleptoparasite modified its foraging strategies and attacked the host egg‐sacs and ate the eggs. The exploitation of this new resource could ensure rapid development for the kleptoparasite which was characterized by the presence of larger females and a higher mating rate.
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