Bat Predation by Spiders ...

• Main Authors: Nyffeler, Martin, Knörnschild, Mirjam, Bilde, Trine
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2013
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13521793; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13521793

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) In this paper more than 50 incidences of bats being captured by spiders are reviewed. Bat-catching spiders have been reported from virtually every continent with the exception of Antarctica (,90% of the incidences occurring in the warmer areas of the globe between latitude 30u N and 30u S). Most reports refer to the Neotropics (42% of observed incidences), Asia (28.8%), and Australia-Papua New Guinea (13.5%). Bat-catching spiders belong to the mygalomorph family Theraphosidae and the araneomorph families Nephilidae, Araneidae, and Sparassidae. In addition to this, an attack attempt by a large araneomorph hunting spider of the family Pisauridae on an immature bat was witnessed. Eighty-eight percent of the reported incidences of bat catches were attributable to web-building spiders and 12% to hunting spiders. Large tropical orb-weavers of the genera Nephila and Eriophora in particular have been observed catching bats in their huge, strong orbwebs (of up to 1.5 ...