PREY PREFERENCES AND VISUAL DISCRIMINATION ABILITY OF CYRBA ALGERINA, AN ARANEOPHAGIC JUMPING SPIDER (ARANEAE: SALTICIDAE) WITH PRIMITIVE RETINAE

ABSTRACT

Cyrba algerina (Salticidae: Spartaeinae) is an aberrant jumping spider that routinely includes web-building spiders in its diet. The present paper is the first detailed study of C. algerina's prey preferences, and the first report on the behavior of this species in Israel. Three basic types of tests for prey preference were used: different types of prey provided on alternate days (alternate-days tests), two types of prey provided simultaneously (simultaneous-presentation tests), an alternative prey type provided while the predator was already feeding (alternative-prey tests). Alternate-day and simultaneous—presentation testing, but not alternative-prey testing, provided evidence that: (1) C. algerina prefers web-building spiders to insects; (2) this preference is expressed even if the prey-spider is not in a web; (3) C. algerina's prey preference is not affected by a prior period without food of 14 days; (4) after 21 days of fasting, C. algerina takes insects and spiders indiscriminately. When C. algerina was tested with dead, motionless lures, the same preferences were found, indicating that C. algerina can distinguish between spiders and insects independent of the different movement patterns of these different prey.