engleski

Trophic niche of an ant-eating predator during its ontogenetic development

The realized trophic niche describes the natural diet of a species and is mostly limited by the prey availability. The natural diet can be assessed through various methods, but the most commonly used method is DNA-based diet analysis. Zodarion rubidium (Simon, 1914) is, unlike most spider species, described as a stenophagous predator specialized in foraging ants. Still, his natural diet is for the most part unknown and there is no knowledge of prey preferences during ontogenetic development. The main goal of this research is to determine whether there is a shift in prey preferences during Z. rubidum’s ontogenesis and if there is a difference in the diet between sexes due to sexual dimorphism. In addition, a feeding trial was performed to assess the potentials of DNA-based diet analysis and to estimate the time at which prey-DNA can be detected.

Zodarion rubidum, stenophagous predator, Ion Torrent sequencing, gut content analysis

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