title: Feeding ecology of the tropical spitting spider Scytodes longipes (Araneae, Scytodidae).
abstract: Feeding experiments and prey collections in Panama have shown the tropical spitting spider Scytodes longipes to be a specialized feeder on soft-chitinized arthropods (Diptera, Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Orthopteroidea, and Araneae); hard-chitinized insects (Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, and Heteroptera) are refused. There is a considerable specialisation on spiders as prey. The unique prey-catching behaviour in which a gummy secretion is spat onto prey items is considered as an important characteristic of this specialisation. Pholcus phalangioides, a pholcid with convergent morphology and a different specialised prey-catching behaviour, is discussed as an ecological equivalent to Scytodes longipes.
authors.affiliation: Fachbereich Biologie, Universität/Lahnberge, D-3550, Marburg, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nentwig