ANT-EATING SPIDER IS MEAL FOR PREDATORY WASP

2013 ◽  
Vol 216 (11) ◽  
pp. v-vi
Author(s):  
K. M. Parisky
Keyword(s):  
2003 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gal Haspel ◽  
Lior Ann Rosenberg ◽  
Frederic Libersat

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Robert Bosmans ◽  
Paolo Pantini ◽  
Pamela Loverre ◽  
Rocco Addante

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 190283
Author(s):  
Teppei Jono ◽  
Yosuke Kojima ◽  
Takafumi Mizuno

Eusocial insects can express surprisingly complex cooperative defence of the colony. Brood and reproductive castes typically remain in the nest and are protected by workers' various antipredator tactics against intruders. In Madagascar, a myrmicine ant, Aphaenogaster swammerdami , occurs sympatrically with a large blindsnake, Madatyphlops decorsei . As blindsnakes generally specialize on feeding on termites and ants brood by intruding into the nest, these snakes are presumably a serious predator on the ant. Conversely, a lamprophiid snake, Madagascarophis colubrinus , is considered to occur often in active A . swammerdami nests without being attacked. By presenting M . colubrinus , M . decorsei and a control snake, Thamnosophis lateralis , at the entrance of the nest, we observed two highly specialized interactions between ants and snakes: the acceptance of M . colubrinus into the nest and the cooperative evacuation of the brood from the nest for protection against the ant-eating M . decorsei . Given that M . colubrinus is one of the few known predators of blindsnakes in this area, A . swammerdami may protect their colonies against this blindsnake by two antipredator tactics, symbiosis with M . colubrinus and evacuation in response to intrusion by blindsnakes. These findings demonstrate that specialized predators can drive evolution of complex cooperative defence in eusocial species.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 1053-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stano Pekár ◽  
Lenka Petráková ◽  
Ondrej Šedo ◽  
Stanislav Korenko ◽  
Zbyněk Zdráhal

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1090-1097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula E. Cushing ◽  
Brent D. Opell

When disturbed, Uloborus glomosus either remain in position at the hub of their orb webs, jump from the web, move to the edge of the web, or shake the web. Juveniles more frequently exhibited moving and jumping responses, whereas the majority of adults jumped from the web or remained in position. Adults with linear stabilimenta tended to shake their webs in the morning and to jump from their webs in the evening. Juveniles with linear stabilimenta shook their webs in the afternoon and evening, whereas those with circular stabilimenta tended to move to the edge of the web or shake the web during all times of day. Adult females with egg-sac chains were usually aligned with the egg sacs and tended to remain in position when disturbed. Both adults and juveniles lacking stabilimenta or egg-sac chains tended to jump from their webs or move to the edge of their webs. Spiders filmed in a natural setting responded to contact by insects. Predatory wasps repeatedly flew near the spiders without eliciting a response. A tethered predatory wasp held above both juveniles and adults in the laboratory also failed to elicit responses from the spiders. The data agree with the hypothesis that moving to the edge of, shaking, and jumping from the web may be predator avoidance strategies elicited by direct contact.


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