Nectar Meals of a Mosquito-Specialist Spider
Evarcha culicivora, an East African jumping spider, is known for feeding indirectly on vertebrate blood by actively choosing blood-carrying mosquitoes as prey. Using cold-anthrone tests to detect fructose, we demonstrate that E. culicivora also feeds on nectar. Field-collected individuals, found on...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2012-01-01
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| Series: | Psyche: A Journal of Entomology |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/898721 |
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| author | Josiah O. Kuja Robert R. Jackson Godfrey O. Sune Rebecca N. H. Karanja Zipporah O. Lagat Georgina E. Carvell |
| author_facet | Josiah O. Kuja Robert R. Jackson Godfrey O. Sune Rebecca N. H. Karanja Zipporah O. Lagat Georgina E. Carvell |
| author_sort | Josiah O. Kuja |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Evarcha culicivora, an East African jumping spider, is known for feeding indirectly on vertebrate blood by actively choosing blood-carrying mosquitoes as prey. Using cold-anthrone tests to detect fructose, we demonstrate that E. culicivora also feeds on nectar. Field-collected individuals, found on the plant Lantana camara, tested positive for plant sugar (fructose). In the laboratory, E. culicivora tested positive for fructose after being kept with L. camara or one of another ten plant species (Aloe vera, Clerodendron magnifica, Hamelia patens, Lantana montevideo, Leonotis nepetaefolia, Parthenium hysterophorus, Ricinus communis, Senna didymobotrya, Striga asiatica, and Verbena trivernia). Our findings demonstrate that E. culicivora acquires fructose from its natural diet and can ingest fructose directly from plant nectaries. However, experiments in the laboratory also show that E. culicivora can obtain fructose indirectly by feeding on prey that have fed on fructose, implying a need to consider this possibility when field-collected spiders test positive for fructose. In laboratory tests, 53.5% of 1,215 small juveniles, but only 3.4% of 622 adult E. culicivora, left with plants for 24 hours, were positive for fructose. These findings, along with the field data, suggest that fructose is especially important for early-instar juveniles of E. culicivora. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b349f887c078460589222a709bc76272 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0033-2615 1687-7438 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Psyche: A Journal of Entomology |
| spelling | doaj-art-b349f887c078460589222a709bc762722025-02-03T01:27:18ZengWileyPsyche: A Journal of Entomology0033-26151687-74382012-01-01201210.1155/2012/898721898721Nectar Meals of a Mosquito-Specialist SpiderJosiah O. Kuja0Robert R. Jackson1Godfrey O. Sune2Rebecca N. H. Karanja3Zipporah O. Lagat4Georgina E. Carvell5Department of Biological Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi 00200, KenyaInternational Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Thomas Odhiambo Campus, Mbita Point 40350, KenyaInternational Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Thomas Odhiambo Campus, Mbita Point 40350, KenyaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi 00200, KenyaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi 00200, KenyaInternational Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Thomas Odhiambo Campus, Mbita Point 40350, KenyaEvarcha culicivora, an East African jumping spider, is known for feeding indirectly on vertebrate blood by actively choosing blood-carrying mosquitoes as prey. Using cold-anthrone tests to detect fructose, we demonstrate that E. culicivora also feeds on nectar. Field-collected individuals, found on the plant Lantana camara, tested positive for plant sugar (fructose). In the laboratory, E. culicivora tested positive for fructose after being kept with L. camara or one of another ten plant species (Aloe vera, Clerodendron magnifica, Hamelia patens, Lantana montevideo, Leonotis nepetaefolia, Parthenium hysterophorus, Ricinus communis, Senna didymobotrya, Striga asiatica, and Verbena trivernia). Our findings demonstrate that E. culicivora acquires fructose from its natural diet and can ingest fructose directly from plant nectaries. However, experiments in the laboratory also show that E. culicivora can obtain fructose indirectly by feeding on prey that have fed on fructose, implying a need to consider this possibility when field-collected spiders test positive for fructose. In laboratory tests, 53.5% of 1,215 small juveniles, but only 3.4% of 622 adult E. culicivora, left with plants for 24 hours, were positive for fructose. These findings, along with the field data, suggest that fructose is especially important for early-instar juveniles of E. culicivora.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/898721 |
| spellingShingle | Josiah O. Kuja Robert R. Jackson Godfrey O. Sune Rebecca N. H. Karanja Zipporah O. Lagat Georgina E. Carvell Nectar Meals of a Mosquito-Specialist Spider Psyche: A Journal of Entomology |
| title | Nectar Meals of a Mosquito-Specialist Spider |
| title_full | Nectar Meals of a Mosquito-Specialist Spider |
| title_fullStr | Nectar Meals of a Mosquito-Specialist Spider |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nectar Meals of a Mosquito-Specialist Spider |
| title_short | Nectar Meals of a Mosquito-Specialist Spider |
| title_sort | nectar meals of a mosquito specialist spider |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/898721 |
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