Steatoda Fulva (Theridiidae), a Spider That Feeds on Harvester Ants

In his revision of the spider genera Crustulina and Steatoda H. W. Levi says of the Steatoda fulva-group [Steatoda fulva (Key- serling) S. medialis (Banks) S. pulcher (Keyserling) ] "Virtually nothing is known of the natural history of these three species" (957, P. 387).The present paper places on record some preliminary observations on the feeding behavior ot Steatoda fulva, which were made during the course of field experiments with ants in April 197o near the campus of the University of South Florida, Tampa.The study area, a field o.f 35 m2, co.ntained 54 nests of the harvester ant Pogonomyrmex badius (Latreille).The nests were uniformly distributed throughout the area.They are excavated in the soil; the nest opening is located in the center o.f a flat .sandcrater (Fig. ).On IO occasions webs of Steatoda fulva were found