Abstract
Assessing information about prey before attacking is crucial for predators. Whip spiders (Arachnida, Amblypygi) are predatory arachnids that prey mainly on arthropods and whose first pair of legs concentrates many sensory structures. Nonetheless, these aspects of amblypygid biology have been mostly studied in a few species of Phrynidae and basic information about predatory behavior and sensory morphology remain scarce for other families. In this study, we described the sensory morphology of the antenniform leg and the predatory behavior of Charinus asturius Pinto-da-Rocha, Machado and Weygoldt, 2002, a representative of the family Charinidae. We report the presence of most sensilla types described in the better studied Phrynidae and highlight novel aspects such as the morphology of the tarsal organ and the reduced number of rod sensilla. Our behavioral results underscore the importance of antenniform legs in the predatory behavior of C. asturius. Finally, we suggest new avenues to advance the knowledge about the importance of antenniform legs for capturing living prey.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Thaiany Costa for her assistance with preparing the material for SEM. The technicians Phillip Lenktaitis and Sheila Carmo helped us photographing the specimens. G. Murayama, J. Fadil and the staff of the Parque Estadual de Ilhabela: Agnaldo, Betinho, Bicudo, Ivomar, Marcos, Pernambuco and Esmérida helped us during the field work. We are very grateful to Alex Damico for providing us lodging during the field trip and Gustavo Miranda for reading an early draft of this manuscript. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for providing comments that helped us to improve this manuscript.
Funding
This study was financially supported by CAPES and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP): Proc. 2014/19191-3 to JMGS and 2015/01815-9 to RH.W, CNPq 302879/2016-1 to RHW.
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Segovia, J.M.G., Gainett, G. & Willemart, R.H. Predatory behavior and sensory morphology of the whip spider Charinus asturius (Arachnida: Amblypygi). J Ethol 38, 273–280 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-020-00648-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-020-00648-0