Suzuki Y. 2020. Sit-and-wait forager or aggressive spider predator: Araneophagic cases of orb-weaving spiders by crab spiders of the genus Thomisus (Araneae: Thomisidae) // Invertebrate Zoology. Vol.17. No.2: 189–194 [in English].
Graduate School of Life and Environmental Science, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, 305-8572 Japan. E-mail: sasaganiya1206@gmail.com
doi: 10.15298/invertzool. 17.2.08
ABSTRACT. Observational cases of predation and consumption on web-building spiders by two crab spiders from Japan, Thomisus labefactus Karsch, 1881 and T. kitamurai Nakatsudi, 1943 are reported based on the data collected from non-peer reviewed articles, illustrated books and various sources on the internet. Prey of Thomisus spiders mainly comprised orb-weaving spiders (Aranaidae), most frequently Nephila clavata (L. Koch, 1878). This publication represents the first description of web-invasion and araneophagy of orb-weaver spiders by Thomisidae in a research paper.
KEY WORDS. Araneophagy, crab spiders, dietary specialization, field observations, orb webs.