Gut content metabarcoding of three widespread Iberian ant-eating spiders reveals specialisation on the same abundant harvester ants
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14310%2F22%3A00125953" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14310/22:00125953 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/een.13114" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1111/een.13114</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/een.13114" target="_blank" >10.1111/een.13114</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Gut content metabarcoding of three widespread Iberian ant-eating spiders reveals specialisation on the same abundant harvester ants
Original language description
Trophic specialists often follow unique evolutionary pathways, show potential applications in biological control, and suffer from increased ecological vulnerability. The myrmecophagous spider genus Zodarion, highly diversified across the Mediterranean, is among the few predatory groups showing strict stenophagy. Most Zodarion species display narrow distributions, but a few of them occur across hundreds to thousands of kilometres, raising questions on the causes of their comparatively higher distributional success. In this study, through extensive geographic sampling and the metabarcoding of gut contents, we explored the diets of the three most widely distributed Iberian species of Zodarion: Zodarion alacre and the two lineages of Zodarion styliferum. Our data support the three species as strictly myrmecophagous, showing diets largely based on the granivorous Messor ants. Auxiliary prey includes other ants of the subfamilies Myrmicinae, Formicinae, and Dolichoderinae. The diet breadth of both Z. styliferum lineages was slightly narrower than that of Z. alacre, coinciding with their higher physiological and behavioural efficiency for predating on Messor. We discard that the relatively large distribution range of our three focal Zodarion species is related to breaking the boundaries of myrmecophagy, and instead argue that such success could be favoured by their specialisation on Messor ants, which are also abundant and widespread across the Iberian Peninsula.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10616 - Entomology
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/EF16_027%2F0008360" target="_blank" >EF16_027/0008360: Postdoc@MUNI</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)<br>S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach<br>I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2022
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Ecological Entomology
ISSN
0307-6946
e-ISSN
1365-2311
Volume of the periodical
47
Issue of the periodical within the volume
3
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
9
Pages from-to
305-313
UT code for WoS article
000730585000001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85121349784