University of Oxford, Department of Zoology, Zoology Research and Administration Building, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK.
University of Oxford, Department of Zoology, Zoology Research and Administration Building, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK
J Exp Biol. 2020 Dec 9;223(Pt 23):jeb234070. doi: 10.1242/jeb.234070.
Web spiders rely on vibrations propagated via their web to identify, locate and capture entangled prey. Here, we experimentally tested the robustness of the orb weaver's predation strategy when webs are severely distorted and silk tensions are drastically altered throughout the web, a common occurrence in the wild. We assessed prey identification efficiency by comparing the spider's initial reaction times towards a fruit fly trapped in the web, we measured location efficiency by comparing times and number of tugging bouts performed, and we determined capture efficiency by comparing capture times. It emerged that spiders are capable of identifying, locating and capturing prey in distorted webs, albeit taking somewhat longer to do so.
网络蜘蛛依靠通过其蛛网传播的振动来识别、定位和捕获纠缠的猎物。在这里，我们通过实验测试了当蛛网严重变形且整个蛛网中的丝张力急剧变化时，这种圆蛛捕食策略的稳健性，这种情况在野外很常见。我们通过比较蜘蛛对被困在网中的果蝇的初始反应时间来评估猎物识别效率，我们通过比较进行的拉动次数和时间来衡量定位效率，我们通过比较捕获时间来确定捕获效率。结果表明，蜘蛛能够在变形的蛛网中识别、定位和捕获猎物，尽管需要更长的时间。
