Feeding effectiveness of Megaphobema mesomelas (Araneae, Theraphosidae) on two prey types
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| Autores: | , , |
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| Formato: | artículo original |
| Fecha de Publicación: | 2012 |
| Descripción: | Prey selection is essential for individual fitness; therefore, it would be expected that a predator would select prey of a higher rank (energy/time) when exposed to prey of differing quality. In this paper, we compare the feeding effectiveness (biomass consumed/time) of Megaphobema mesomelas (O. P.-Cambridge, 1892) in captivity, and the preference between two prey types: beetles and crickets. Spiders are more effective when feeding on crickets. The heavy exoskeleton of beetles increases prey-handling time in order to access a relatively smaller amount of edible tissue. Effectiveness also increases with spider and prey size (mass), with larger spiders feeding more effectively on larger prey. Spiders show a strong preference for feeding upon crickets over beetles when both prey types are offered at the same time. |
| País: | Kérwá |
| Institución: | Universidad de Costa Rica |
| Repositorio: | Kérwá |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:kerwa.ucr.ac.cr:10669/79059 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10669/79059 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |