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Non-webbuilding spiders: prey specialists or generalists?

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Summary

Feeding experiments were performed with seven species of non-webbuilding spiders and a variety of prey taxa. Some species were generally polyphagous whereas other spiders restricted their prey to a few groups. At one end of the spectrum of prey specialization the thomisid Misumena vatia is limited to a few taxa of possible prey (Table 1). The literature of prey records of non-webbuilding spiders is reviewed (Table 2) with special emphasis on oligophagous or monophagous spiders. Monophagous spiders are generally rare and have specialized on only a few prey taxa: social insects (ants, bees, termites) and spiders.

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  1. Institut für Zoologie der Universität, Universitätsstr. 31, D-8400, Regensburg, Germany

    Wolfgang Nentwig

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  1. Wolfgang Nentwig
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Nentwig, W. Non-webbuilding spiders: prey specialists or generalists?. Oecologia 69, 571–576 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00410365

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