Gut-content analysis in four species, combined with comparative analysis of trophic traits, suggests an araneophagous habit for the entire family Palpimanidae (Araneae)

Spinneret spinning field ontogeny and life history observations in the spider Palpimanus uncatus Kulczyński, 1909 (Araneae: Palpimanidae)

“…Ignorant of those studies, and starting cautiously with small salticids, I gradually formed an anecdotal impression that salticids make very suitable prey for P. uncatus, so much so as to increasingly make the family a focus of our collecting excursions for prey. Analysis of palpimanid gut contents has confirmed a high incidence of predation on salticids by P. potteri and P. gibbulus and has indicated that, in general, a large majority of a palpimanid's diet is made up of cursorial spiders, living in the same microhabitat, that hide in retreats (Peka ´r et al 2022). Nevertheless, Palpimanus also prey on a variety of web-building spiders (Peka ´r et al 2011b(Peka ´r et al , 2022.…”

“…Analysis of palpimanid gut contents has confirmed a high incidence of predation on salticids by P. potteri and P. gibbulus and has indicated that, in general, a large majority of a palpimanid's diet is made up of cursorial spiders, living in the same microhabitat, that hide in retreats (Peka ´r et al 2022). Nevertheless, Palpimanus also prey on a variety of web-building spiders (Peka ´r et al 2011b(Peka ´r et al , 2022. This agrees with observations made during this study, with spiders from 16 families, cursorial and web-building, successfully preyed upon by P. uncatus.…”

Importance of spider prey for development of a specialized araneophagous predator (Araneae: Palpimanidae)

“…In both field and under laboratory conditions, they have been shown to mainly capture other spiders (Cerveira & Jackson 2005;Peka´r et al 2011). Recent analysis of the natural diets of three different palpimanid genera by means of molecular methods revealed that all three genera are primarily araneophagous (Peka´r et al 2022). Further analysis of morphological trophic traits suggested an araeophagous habit for the whole family (Peka´r et al 2022).…”

“…In the absence of counterattacks, survival on the spider diet might have been considerably higher. Even though Palpimanus is able to catch and consume insect prey both in the field and in the lab (Cerveira & Jackson 2005;Peka´r et al 2011Peka´r et al , 2022, clearly it is specialized on spiders to such an extent that spider prey cannot be replaced entirely by alternative prey. Similarly, spidereating Portia spiders exhibited higher mortality on an insect diet on which they could not complete their development.…”

“…Recent analysis of the natural diets of three different palpimanid genera by means of molecular methods revealed that all three genera are primarily araneophagous (Pekár et al 2022). Further analysis of morphological trophic traits suggested an araeophagous habit for the whole family (Pekár et al 2022).…”