@article {23071, title = {Natural prey of the crab spider Xysticus marmoratus (Araneae: Thomisidae) on Eryngium plants}, journal = {Journal of Arachnology}, volume = {42}, year = {2014}, pages = {130{\textendash}132}, abstract = {

The natural prey of medium-sized juvenile (ca. 3 mm) crab spiders Xysticus marmoratus Thorell 1875 inhabiting Eryngium biebersteinianum plants was studied on the Absheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan. The percentage of specimens found feeding on prey was low (3.4\%). Xysticus marmoratus is a polyphagous predator with representatives of four arthropod orders found in its diet. The primary food of X. marmoratus was ants (Formicidae), which accounted for 83.3\% of the total number of prey. The length of prey killed by X. marmoratus ranged between 0.87\–7.50 mm (mean 2.96 mm) and constituted from 28.5\–300.0\% (mean 96.9\%) of the length of their captors. The most frequently captured size group of prey was 50\–70\% the length of the spiders.

}, keywords = {Araneae, kleptoparasitism, Milichiidae}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1636/P13-86.1}, url = {http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1636/P13-86.1}, author = {Fizuli oglu Huseynov, E} }