New review paper on spider-plant interactions in Insects

by | Feb 24, 2023

We have today published a review paper in the special issue of Spider Ecology and Behaviour in Insects that looks into the very interesting, but understudied area of interactions between spiders and plants. Our review paper focusses especially on how web-building spiders of which there are very few examples. But one fascinating example is the seemingly obligratory use of acacia host plants by tropical orb spiders in the genus Eustala, which use the ant-protected acaica for enemy-free space. In the review paper, we also discuss methods which web-building spiders might use to locate their host plants.

This paper is part of the research project on Eustala spiders and their interactions with Vachellia acacia trees and their Psedomyrmex ants in Panama funded by the Royal Society and SENACYT.

Hesselberg, T.; Boyd, K.M.; Styrsky, J.D. and Gálvez, D. (2023). Host Plant Specificity in Web-Building Spiders. Insects 14, 229. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14030229

Spiders are ubiquitous generalist predators playing an important role in regulating insect populations in many ecosystems. Traditionally they have not been thought to have strong influences on, or interactions with plants. However, this is slowly changing as several species of cursorial spiders have been reported engaging in either herbivory or inhabiting only one, or a handful of related plant species. In this review paper, we focus on web-building spiders on which very little information is available. We only find well-documented evidence from studies of host plant specificity in orb spiders in the genus Eustala, which are associated with specific species of swollen thorn acacias. We review what little is known of this group in the context of spider–plant interactions generally, and focus on how these interactions are established and maintained while providing suggestions on how spiders may locate and identify specific species of plants. Finally, we suggest ideas for future fruitful research aimed at understanding how web-building spiders find and utilise specific plant hosts.