Specialized prey selection behavior of two East African assassin bugs, Scipinnia repax and Nagusta sp. that prey on social jumping spiders
1School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
2International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Thomas Odhiambo Campus, Mbita Point, Kenya
3Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Abstract
The prey choice behavior and predatory strategies of two East African assassin bugs, Scipinnia repax (Stäl 1961) and Nagusta sp. (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), were investigated in the field and the laboratory. Both of these species are from the subfamily Harpactorinae and specialize in eating spiders. They prey especially often on social jumping spiders (Salticidae) that build nest complexes (nests connected by silk) in vegetation near the shoreline of Lake Victoria. Both reduviid species associate with these nest complexes and prey on the resident salticids. Nagusta sp., but not S. repax, form groups on nest complexes with 2-3 individuals of Nagusta sometimes feeding together on a single salticid. In addition to social salticids, Nagusta sp. preys on Portia africana, an araneophagic salticid that often invades the same nest complexes. S. repax preys on salticid eggs and also on Nagusta. Although they avoid ants, Nagusta and especially S. repax prey on ant-mimicking salticids, suggesting that sensory modalities other than vision play a dominant role in prey detection.
Keywords: araneophagy, intraguild predation, myrmecomorphy, predatory specialization, prey-capture behavior, Reduviidae, Salticidae
Correspondence:
aximena.nelson@canterbury.ac.nz
Associate Editor: Turgul Giray was editor of this paper.
Received: 15 July 2008 | Accepted: 26 February 2009 | Published: 29 June 2010
Copyright: This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.
ISSN: 1536-2442 | Volume 10, Number 82
Jackson RR, Salm K, Nelson XJ. 2010. Specialized prey selection behavior of two East African assassin bugs, Scipinnia repax and Nagusta sp. that prey on social jumping spiders. Journal of Insect Science 10:82, available online: insectscience.org/10.82
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