Cooperative foraging in neotropical pseudoscorpions: effects of prey changes on behavioral adjustments of colonies

Can morphological and behavioral traits predict the foraging and feeding dynamics of social arachnids?

“…These pseudoscorpions are sit-and-wait predators and exhibit a preference for large prey items ( Tizo-Pedroso and Del-Claro 2007 ; Moura et al 2018 ). By performing cooperative hunting, they can capture prey up to 4 times larger (length) than themselves, including several arthropods such as aggressive ants and spiders ( Tizo-Pedroso and Del-Claro 2007 ; Moura et al 2018 ; Ribeiro et al 2018 ). The predation process of P. nidificator initiates with one attacking pseudoscorpion: this individual grabs either an antenna or one of the prey’s legs and drags it under the tree bark, where other pseudoscorpions can join the attack ( Moura et al 2018 ).…”

The study of biotic interactions in the Brazilian Cerrado as a path to the conservation of biodiversity

“…Nevertheless, individuals are rarely identical and behavioral ecology, for example, has showed that consistent individual differences in personality and/or temperament may alter the roles that individuals play within populations and possibly communities (e.g. Filgueiras et al 2018, Moura et al 2018. Thus, the knowledge of individual aspects (including genetic variation) and natural history are fundamental to the study of biodiversity.…”