New data on the distribution of Aguapanela arvi Perafán, Cifuentes & Estrada, 2015 in Colombia through collections and citizen science, with notes on the natural history (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

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  New data on the distribution of Aguapanela arvi Perafán, Cifuentes & Estrada, 2015 in Colombia through collections and citizen science, with notes on the natural history (Araneae: Theraphosidae) Abstract This paper expands the known distribution of Aguapanela arvi Perafán, Cifuentes & Estrada, 2015 in Colombia by reporting its presence for the first time in the departments of Caldas, Quindío, and Risaralda. Additionally, new aspects of its natural history are documented, including parasitic interactions involving a parasitoid wasp and an arthropod-pathogenic fungus. These findings are based on field observations, specimens deposited in biological collections, and citizen science records. Aguirre-Cano, D., Moreno-García, R., Parra-Giraldo, A., Carmona-Aguirre, B., Palacios-Castro, S. and Álvarez-Arellano, D. (2026) “New data on the distribution of Aguapanela arvi Perafán, Cifuentes & Estrada, 2015 in Colombia through collections and citizen science, with notes on the ...

Attack on Titan: a record of predation on the Chinese reddish mantis Hierodula chinensis (Mantodea, Mantidae) by the orb-web weaving spider Gibbaranea abscissa (Araneae, Araneidae)

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Attack on Titan: a record of predation on the Chinese reddish mantis Hierodula chinensis (Mantodea, Mantidae) by the orb-web weaving spider Gibbaranea abscissa (Araneae, Araneidae)

Abstract

Prey–predator interaction is a phenomenon important to our understanding of community dynamics. Mantises and web-weaving spiders are predators that belong to the same guild, and they can be each other’s predator and prey. However, their relationship is generally asymmetrical, with spiders often being the prey of the mantises. Here, we report a rare opposite case in which an adult female mantis, Hierodula chinensis Werner, 1929, was preyed upon by the orb-web weaving spider Gibbaranea abscissa (Karsch, 1879), without using a web, in a late autumn field in Japan. We suggest that differences in cold tolerance allowed the small spider to hunt a mantis prey that was approximately eight times its size.

Yamasaki K, Baba YG (2025) Attack on Titan: a record of predation on the Chinese reddish mantis Hierodula chinensis (Mantodea, Mantidae) by the orb-web weaving spider Gibbaranea abscissa (Araneae, Araneidae). Journal of Orthoptera Research 34(1): 131-134. https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.34.122095