Abstract
The jumping spider Evarcha culicivora (Salticidae) has unusual links to Lantana camara, a plant species to which it is attracted. Three phytochemicals from the headspace of L. camara (1,8 cineole and especially β-caryophyllene and α-humulene) attract adult E. culicivora. These spiders, especially early-instar juveniles, feed on nectar, but adults may use L. camara as mating sites. The hypothesis we consider here is that, for E. culicivora juveniles, although not for adults, responding to plant odor is relevant in the specific context of acquiring nectar meals. We show that juveniles resemble adults by responding to β-caryophyllene and α-humulene, but we found no significant attraction of juveniles to 1,8 cineole. We also show that, compared to sated E. culicivora juveniles, juveniles subjected to a 5-day pre-trial fast responded more strongly to living L. camara plants and to β-caryophyllene and α-humulene, but we found no significant effect of hunger level on response by adults to living plants. These results suggest that attraction to L. camara may have different functions for E. culicivora depending on the stage of its life history.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Stephen Abok Aluoch and Jane Atieno Obonyo for their assistance at ICIPE. Our research was supported in part by the National Geographic Society (Grant 8676-09) and by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R21-AI062957 and R01-AI077722 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
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Nelson, X.J., Jackson, R.R. Hunger-driven response by a nectar-eating jumping spider to specific phytochemicals. Chemoecology 23, 149–153 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-013-0130-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-013-0130-5