Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) feeding on snakes (Reptilia: Squamata)
In this paper, 319 incidents of snake predation by spiders are reported based on a comprehensive global literature and social media survey. Snake-catching spiders have been documented from all continents except Antarctica. Snake predation by spiders has been most frequently documented in USA (51% of...
Published in: | The Journal of Arachnology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Arachnological Society
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 |
id |
ftbioone:10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftbioone:10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 2023-07-30T03:58:10+02:00 Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) feeding on snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) Martin Nyffeler J. Whitfield Gibbons Martin Nyffeler J. Whitfield Gibbons world 2021-05-11 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 en eng American Arachnological Society doi:10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 Text 2021 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 2023-07-09T10:30:41Z In this paper, 319 incidents of snake predation by spiders are reported based on a comprehensive global literature and social media survey. Snake-catching spiders have been documented from all continents except Antarctica. Snake predation by spiders has been most frequently documented in USA (51% of all incidents) and Australia (29%). The captured snakes are predominantly small-sized with an average body length of 25.9 ± 1.3 cm (median = 27 cm; range: 5.8–100 cm). Altogether >90 snake species from seven families have been documented to be captured by >40 spider species from 11 families. About 60% of the reported incidents were attributable to theridiids (≈0.6–1.1 cm body length), a spider family that uses strong tangle webs for prey capture. Especially the Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti Thorell, 1870), the African button spider (Latrodectus indistinctus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904), an Israeli widow spider (Latrodectus revivensis Shulov, 1948), and four species of North American widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus C.L. Koch, 1841, Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935, Latrodectus mactans (Fabricius, 1775), and Latrodectus variolus Walckenaer, 1837) – equipped with a very potent vertebrate-specific toxin (α-latrotoxin) – have proven to be expert snake catchers. The use of vertebrates as a supplementary food source by spiders represents an opportunity to enlarge their food base, resulting in enhanced survival capability. Interestingly, the snakes captured by spiders also encompasses some species from the families Elapidae and Viperidae known to be highly toxic to humans and other vertebrates. Not only do spiders sometimes capture and kill snakes, quite often the tables are turned – that is, a larger number of arthropod-eating snake species (in particular nonvenomous species in the family Colubridae) include spiders in their diets. Text Antarc* Antarctica BioOne Online Journals The Journal of Arachnology 49 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
BioOne Online Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftbioone |
language |
English |
description |
In this paper, 319 incidents of snake predation by spiders are reported based on a comprehensive global literature and social media survey. Snake-catching spiders have been documented from all continents except Antarctica. Snake predation by spiders has been most frequently documented in USA (51% of all incidents) and Australia (29%). The captured snakes are predominantly small-sized with an average body length of 25.9 ± 1.3 cm (median = 27 cm; range: 5.8–100 cm). Altogether >90 snake species from seven families have been documented to be captured by >40 spider species from 11 families. About 60% of the reported incidents were attributable to theridiids (≈0.6–1.1 cm body length), a spider family that uses strong tangle webs for prey capture. Especially the Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti Thorell, 1870), the African button spider (Latrodectus indistinctus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904), an Israeli widow spider (Latrodectus revivensis Shulov, 1948), and four species of North American widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus C.L. Koch, 1841, Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935, Latrodectus mactans (Fabricius, 1775), and Latrodectus variolus Walckenaer, 1837) – equipped with a very potent vertebrate-specific toxin (α-latrotoxin) – have proven to be expert snake catchers. The use of vertebrates as a supplementary food source by spiders represents an opportunity to enlarge their food base, resulting in enhanced survival capability. Interestingly, the snakes captured by spiders also encompasses some species from the families Elapidae and Viperidae known to be highly toxic to humans and other vertebrates. Not only do spiders sometimes capture and kill snakes, quite often the tables are turned – that is, a larger number of arthropod-eating snake species (in particular nonvenomous species in the family Colubridae) include spiders in their diets. |
author2 |
Martin Nyffeler J. Whitfield Gibbons |
format |
Text |
author |
Martin Nyffeler J. Whitfield Gibbons |
spellingShingle |
Martin Nyffeler J. Whitfield Gibbons Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) feeding on snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) |
author_facet |
Martin Nyffeler J. Whitfield Gibbons |
author_sort |
Martin Nyffeler |
title |
Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) feeding on snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) |
title_short |
Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) feeding on snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) |
title_full |
Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) feeding on snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) |
title_fullStr |
Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) feeding on snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) feeding on snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) |
title_sort |
spiders (arachnida: araneae) feeding on snakes (reptilia: squamata) |
publisher |
American Arachnological Society |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 |
op_coverage |
world |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-20-050 |
container_title |
The Journal of Arachnology |
container_volume |
49 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1772821051525300224 |