Predator-prey interactions between aggressive-mimic jumping spiders (Salticidae) and araneophagic spitting spiders (Scytodidae) from the Philippines

Abstract

In Los Banos in the Philippines (Laguna, Luzon), Scytodes sp. indet. is a web-building spitting spider (Scytodidae) that preys primarily on jumping spiders (Salticidae) and Portia labiata is an aggressive-mimic jumping spider that preys especially frequently on Scytodes. Tactics by which three species of Portia (P. africana, P. fimbriata, and P. labiata) and, for Portia labiata, three disjunct populations (Sri Lanka and, in the Philippines, Sagada and Los Banos) capture this especially dangerous prey are compared. Local adaptation to Scytodes by the Los Banos P. labiata is discussed. The Los Banos P. labiata uniquely made consistent use of tactics (soft plucking with palps and signal-detour-leap sequences) that were apparently responsible for greater prey-capture success and more effective avoidance of being spat on. Inter- and intraspecific differences were evident despite having used Portia that were reared in the laboratory with no prioir experience with scytodids.