Host plant specificity in web-building spiders

Thomas Hesselberg*, Kieran M Boyd, John D Styrsky, Dumas Gálvez

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
43 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Spiders are ubiquitous generalist predators playing an important role in regulating insect populations in many ecosystems. Traditionally they have not been thought to have strong influences on, or interactions with plants. However, this is slowly changing as several species of cursorial spiders have been reported engaging in either herbivory or inhabiting only one, or a handful of related plant species. In this review paper, we focus on web-building spiders on which very little information is available. We only find well-documented evidence from studies of host plant specificity in orb spiders in the genus Eustala, which are associated with specific species of swollen thorn acacias. We review what little is known of this group in the context of spider-plant interactions generally, and focus on how these interactions are established and maintained while providing suggestions on how spiders may locate and identify specific species of plants. Finally, we suggest ideas for future fruitful research aimed at understanding how web-building spiders find and utilise specific plant hosts.
Original languageEnglish
Article number229
JournalInsects
Volume14
Issue number3
Early online date24 Feb 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2023

Keywords

  • plant volatiles
  • Host Recognition
  • Carnivorous Plants
  • Spider–plant Interactions
  • Swollen Thorn Acacias
  • Orb-web Spiders

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