New observations on a neotropical termite-hunting theridiid spider: opportunistic nest raiding, prey storage, and ceratopogonid kleptoparasites

Stephen A. Marshall; Art Borkent; Ingi Agnarsson; Gard W. Otis; Lyndsay Fraser; Dave d'Entremont

doi:10.1636/0161-8202-43.3.419

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1 November 2015 New observations on a neotropical termite-hunting theridiid spider: opportunistic nest raiding, prey storage, and ceratopogonid kleptoparasites

Stephen A. Marshall, Art Borkent, Ingi Agnarsson, Gard W. Otis, Lyndsay Fraser, Dave d'Entremont

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The J. of Arachnology, 43(3):419-421 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1636/0161-8202-43.3.419

Abstract

A neotropical spider in the genus Janula Strand 1932 is reported as an opportunistic raider in damaged carton nests of the arboreal termite Nasutitermes ephratae. These spiders were shown to be attracted to ruptured nests and galleries from which they gather soldier termite prey that they bundle into silk-wrapped balls before suspending them away from the nests. Three species of Forcipomyia and one species of Atrichopogon (Ceratopogonidae, biting midges), rare associates of spiders, are reported as kleptoparasites on the dangling and immobilized termites.

The American Arachnological Society

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Stephen A. Marshall, Art Borkent, Ingi Agnarsson, Gard W. Otis, Lyndsay Fraser, and Dave d'Entremont "New observations on a neotropical termite-hunting theridiid spider: opportunistic nest raiding, prey storage, and ceratopogonid kleptoparasites," The Journal of Arachnology 43(3), 419-421, (1 November 2015). https://doi.org/10.1636/0161-8202-43.3.419

Received: 15 April 2015; Published: 1 November 2015

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