Predator-predator-prey interactions between spiders and insects: first fossil evidence from a 23-million-year-old Chiapas amber coincretion
abstract
The inclusion is a paleontological resource that provides paleoautoecological evidence for fossil species and information about the biological interactions between different organisms that were part of ecosystems in the past. Paleoautoecological interactions in amber have been recorded worldwide, but interactions between predators and potential prey are rare. Here, we present the first example of a predator-predator-prey interaction in Miocene Chiapas amber involving two species of spiders and one species of insect, the pneumophagous “pirate spider.” The evidence was recorded. Mimetus sp., Theridiidae spider Chimoite Carbotiand gall flies (Cecydomiidae). interaction between Mimetus sp. and T. Calboti Documented as a possible case of bulimia or opportunism. Also, the first evidence of a web built by some members. Chimoite The genus is introduced. Taphonomics analysis of the amber pieces showed that they were all captured simultaneously under the same resin flow.
