School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
PLoS One. 2006 Dec 27;1(1):e132. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000132.
All vectors of human malaria, a disease responsible for more than one million deaths per year, are female mosquitoes from the genus Anopheles. Evarcha culicivora is an East African jumping spider (Salticidae) that feeds indirectly on vertebrate blood by selecting blood-carrying female mosquitoes as preferred prey.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: By testing with motionless lures made from mounting dead insects in lifelike posture on cork discs, we show that E. culicivora selects Anopheles mosquitoes in preference to other mosquitoes and that this predator can identify Anopheles by static appearance alone. Tests using active (grooming) virtual mosquitoes rendered in 3-D animation show that Anopheles' characteristic resting posture is an important prey-choice cue for E. culicivora. Expression of the spider's preference for Anopheles varies with the spider's size, varies with its prior feeding condition and is independent of the spider gaining a blood meal.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first experimental study to show that a predator of any type actively chooses Anopheles as preferred prey, suggesting that specialized predators having a role in the biological control of disease vectors is a realistic possibility.
人类疟疾的所有传播媒介都是雌性按蚊属蚊子，每年导致超过 100 万人死亡。伊氏埃蛛是东非跳蛛（跳蛛科），通过选择携带血液的雌性蚊子作为首选猎物，间接地以脊椎动物血液为食。
方法/主要发现：通过使用静止的诱饵进行测试，这些诱饵是将死昆虫以逼真的姿势安装在软木圆盘上制成的，我们表明伊氏埃蛛偏爱按蚊，而不是其他蚊子，并且这种捕食者仅通过静态外观就能识别按蚊。使用 3-D 动画制作的活跃（梳理）虚拟蚊子的测试表明，按蚊的特征休息姿势是伊氏埃蛛重要的猎物选择线索。蜘蛛对按蚊的偏好表达随蜘蛛的大小而变化，随其先前的喂养条件而变化，并且与蜘蛛获得血餐无关。
结论/意义：这是第一项表明任何类型的捕食者主动选择按蚊作为首选猎物的实验研究，表明具有疾病媒介生物控制作用的专门捕食者是一种现实的可能性。
