TY - JOUR T1 - A survey of nectar feeding by spiders in three different habitats JF - Bulletin of Insectology Y1 - 2010 A1 - Chen, Xiaoqiong A1 - Chen, Yuanchun A1 - Wu, Lingbing A1 - Peng, Yu A1 - Chen, Jian A1 - Liu, Fengxiang SP - 203 EP - 208 KW - Araneae KW - Araneae (Arachnida). KW - Asia KW - China KW - Cotton KW - Diet KW - Ebrechtella tricuspidata (Araneae). KW - Ebrechtella tricuspidata [Food plants / Nectar feeding / KW - Eurasia KW - Habitat KW - habitat / ] [Hubei / / ]. KW - land habitat / Cotton, rape & fava bean fields / ] [Urban habitat / Park KW - Land zones KW - Man made habitat KW - Nutrition KW - Palaearctic KW - rape & fava bean fields] [Feeding behaviour / / ] [Cultivated KW - region AB - Using cold-anthrone tests, spiders collected in the field were sampled for the presence of plant sugar (fructose). The spiders came from three different habitats: a cotton field, a mixed rape and fava bean field, and a park with flowering woody and herbaceous plants. The percentages of fructose-positive spiders were compared among the different habitats, as well as among the different sexes and ages of Ebrechtella tricuspidata (F.) (Araneae Thomisidae). Out of 745 field-collected spiders, 18.7% were positive for fructose, indicating that these spiders feed on plant nectar. Of the 12 families of spiders represented, individuals from 9 families were positive for fructose: Oxyopidae, Thomisidae, Pisauridae, Salticidae, Lycosidae, Tetragnathidae, Araneidae, Nephilidae, and Agelenidae. All members of the other three families (Linyphiidae, Clubionidae and Theridiidae) were negative for fructose. There were no differences for nectar feeding in spiders among the three habitats: 19.3% of individuals from the cotton field, 16.6% from the mixed rape and lava bean field, and 20.0% in park with flowering woody and herbaceous plants tested positive for fructose. For E. tricuspidata, significantly more females were positive than males (87.5% versus 42.9%); and immatures tested positive at a lower rate than adults (26.5% and 66.7%, respectively). VL - 63 SN - 1721-8861 UR - ://ZOOREC:ZOOR14704028642 N1 - ZOOR14704028642 ER -