New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts

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Prey preferences of Portia labiata, P. africana, and P. schultzi, araneophagic jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Uganda

DAIQIN LI
ROBERT R. JACKSON*

Department of Zoology
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, New Zealand

ALBERTO BARRION

Entomology and Plant Pathology Division
International Rice Research Institute
P.O. Box 933
1099 Manila, Philippines
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract  Prey-preference behaviour of three species of araneophagic salticid (P. labiata from the Philippines and Sri Lanka, P. africana from Kenya and Uganda, and P. schultzi from Kenya) is studied in the laboratory for the first time. "Well-fed" (7 day fast) and "starved" (14 day fast) males and females of each species have a pronounced preference for web-building spiders over insects, and a less pronounced preference for salticid spiders over insects. Also, well-fed and starved males and females of these species prefer web-building spiders to salticids. Preferences for taxonomic type of prey are the same regardless of whether living, active prey or dead, motionless lures are used, suggesting that all these araneophagic salticids can distinguish between the different taxonomic categories of prey without reference to their different movement patterns. For each species, females--relative to males--preferred larger prey. When extra-starved (21 day fast), males and females of all species appeared to take prey of different taxonomic categories indiscriminately. Findings from this study are discussed in relation to earlier studies on myrmecophagic salticids and on other araneophagic salticids.

Keywords  prey preference; Portia africana; Portia labiata; Portia schultzi; araneophagy; spider; Salticidae

Received 28 November 1996; accepted 7 July 1997

New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 1997, Vol. 24: 333-349

0301-4223/2404-0333 $7.00/0   (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1997

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1185K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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