Journal
JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
Volume 301, Issue 2, Pages 125-132Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12400
Keywords
anthrone; fructose; nutrition; Cerrado; nectar feeding; spiders; neotropical savanna
Categories
Funding
- Instituto Nacional de Ciencia e Tecnologia dos Himenopteros Parasitoides da RegiAo Sudeste (Hympar/Sudeste - CNPq/CAPES/Fapesp), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico [Proc. 306157/2014-4, 403733/2012-0, 445832/2014-2]
- CoordenacAo de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior, Capes for a doctoral fellowship
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Despite their essentially carnivorous habits, spiders can supplement their diets with other food sources, such as extrafloral nectar. The extrafloral nectar can constitute an excellent complementary energy source for spiders because it is rich in mono and disaccharides besides other compounds. We investigate the presence of fructose and its concentration in the bodies of wandering and web weaver spiders collected on extrafloral nectary-bearing plants from a neotropical savanna area by means of cold anthrone test. The tested spiders belonged to seven families: Anyphaenidae, Araneidae, Oxyopidae, Pisauridae, Salticidae, Theridiidae and Thomisidae. A total of 265 (88.04%) of all tested individuals were fructose intake positive. In general, there was no difference in the percentage of positive spiders between wandering and web weaver spider species or between adult and immature individuals. Results found in this study corroborate those from other studies that suggest that nectar feeding is a common activity among spiders and it includes a new family (Theridiidae) in the nectivory spiders list.
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