Honey, what’s for dinner? Diet overlap and size dimorphism in female and male Jorog spiders (Trichonephila clavata)

Selection based on body size tends to select larger males, who are more competitive than smaller males when mating with females, and larger, more prolific females. For many nest-building spiders in the family Arachnidae, reproductive success increases with body size, which is related to diet. The diet of female spiders may overlap with that of male spiders with whom they share a web, but dietary patterns may be size-dependent if certain males have better access to prey entangled in their webs. be. So, Jorogumo (Trichonephylla clavata) Dietary patterns are gender-specific and related to body size and condition. We combined morphometric size analysis with molecular gut content analysis using DNA metabarcoding and high-throughput sequencing to characterize the diets of male and female black spiders from 60 nests at 25 sites. Female spiders were larger than males, and their diet was more diverse. Although male Jorogmos consumed the same food taxa as females, more than 50 additional taxa were detected in the female’s diet, leading to large differences in diet composition between the sexes. As males’ body size increases, dietary diversity and body condition decrease, suggesting a potential trade-off between time spent foraging and actively defending their position on the nest. I am. Female and male spiders captured from the same nest shared prey taxa. However, the proportion of prey overlap was not related to male size. Taken together, it appears that black spiders exhibit sex-specific dietary patterns, with males having less access to the diverse food captured in female nests.

Grabarczyk, E.E., Tillman, P.G., Querejeta, M., and Schmidt, J.M. Honey, what’s for dinner? Dietary overlap and size dimorphism between female and male Jolly spiders (Trichonephila clavata). integrative zoology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12947

Image Citation: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. Trichonephylla clavata. (January 6, 2025). On Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavata