Prey‐capture techniques and prey preferences of nine species of ant‐eating jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from the Philippines

Abstract

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 not other prey, several times before holding on. In three types of prey‐preference tests, each of the nine salticid species took dolichoderine, formicine, myrmicine, ponerine, and pseudomyrmecine ants in preference to a variety of other insects (aphids, bugs, caterpillars, cockroaches, crickets, flies, gnats, lacewings, mantises, may flies, midges, mosquitoes, moths, plant and leafhoppers, plant lice, and termites). Testing with laboratory‐reared spiders showed that the development of preference for ants and ant‐specific prey‐capture behaviour did not depend on prior experience with ants. Each species was shown in tests with 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 specialised salticids and in relation to the structure and function of the salticid eye.