Prey preferences and visual discrimination ability of Brettus, Cocalus and Cyrba , araneophagic jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from Australia, Kenya and Sri Lanka

Brettus adonis, Brettus albolimbatus, Cocalus gibbosus, Cyrba ocellata and Cyrba simoni (Salticidae: Spartaeinae) are genera of aberrant jumping spiders from Australia, Kenya and Sri Lanka that routinely include web‐building spiders in their diet. The present paper is the first detailed study of prey choice by these five species. Three basic types of tests were used: different types of prey provided on successive days (alternate‐day tests), two types of prey provided at the same time (simultaneous‐presentation tests), or a second prey type provided while the predator was already feeding (alternative‐prey tests). Each species during alternate‐day and simultaneous‐presentation tests chose web‐building spiders in preference to insects, both when ‘well fed’ (last meal 7 days before testing) and when starved (last meal 14 days before testing). Insects and spiders were taken indiscriminately after 21 days of fasting. The same preferences were evident when dead, motionless lures instead of living prey were used, indicating that, while relying on optical cues alone, each species can distinguish between spiders and insects independent of the different movement patterns of these different prey. There was no evidence of preference in alternative‐prey tests.