Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 301-302 (2021) (published online on 09 February 2021)

Predation by the spider Tidarren sisyphoides (Walckenaer, 1841) on the Ringneck Coffee Snake Ninia diademata Baird & Girard, 1853 in Veracruz, Mexico

Angel Ivan Contreras Calvario1, Manuel de Luna2,*, Abigail Mora Reyes1, and Xavier Contreras Calvario3

The Ringneck Coffee Snake Ninia diademata Baird & from the spider’s web, the snake spasmed and appeared Girard, 1853 is a very small, fossorial dipsadid (up to somewhat rigid. It was collected while still alive but 42 cm in total length). It has a solid black dorsum with died overnight. Both snake and spider were deposited a pale dorsal collar in the neck area and 83–106 and 73– in the herpetological and arachnological collections, 98 subcaudal scales in males and females, respectively. respectively, of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo These characteristics differentiate it from its only other León (voucher numbers UANL 8449 for the snake and Mexican congener, the Redback Coffee Snake N. sebae FCB-ATHER 144 for the spider). (Duméril et al., 1854), which has a red dorsum with a The spider was later identified as a female Tidarren black collar in the neck area, often possesses incomplete sisyphoides (Walckenaer, 1841) (Araneae: Theridiidae) black bands on its dorsum, and has fewer subcaudal (Fig. 1B, C) using Levi’s (1970) keys. There are various scales (41–71 in males, 37–60 in females; Heimes, 2016). recorded instances where theridiid spiders have taken Ninia diademata occurs in eastern as well as southern vertebrate prey many times larger than themselves, Mexico, excluding the Yucatán Peninsula, as well as the including snakes (Beaman and Tucker, 2014; Davis et Central American countries of Belize, Guatemala, and al., 2017; Rocha et al., 2017; Nyffeler and Vetter, 2018) Honduras. Its elevational range is from ca. 800–1300 m but this is the first time this phenomenon is recorded for (Heimes, 2016). The only documented predator of this a species of the genus Tidarren. species is the Variable Coralsnake Micrurus diastema As with other spiders of the family Theridiidae, T. (Duméril et al., 1854) (West, 2019). sisyphoides is an ambush predator that relies on its sticky On 8 February 2020 at around 15:00 h, a male web to capture prey (Luna et al., 2020). Once the prey specimen of N. diademata (Fig. 1A) was found in a rural is in contact with the web, the spider is alerted and uses community known as La Cuesta, Camerino Z. Mendoza movements on its fourth pair of legs to apply viscous silk Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico (18.7960°N, threads in order to help immobilise the target. Tired from 97.1701°W; WGS 84; elevation 1566 m). The snake was the struggle, the prey ceases or slows movement, and the entangled in the web of a spider, suspended around 1 m spider uses this clue to close in and bite the prey in order above-ground and still had vital signs. Upon removing it to envenomate it. If the prey is large and continues to move after envenomation (as it was likely the case in this particular encounter), the spider suspends it from a few lines of silk and continues its attack from above, wrapping and biting the prey repeatedly to kill it. Finally, 1 Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Campus after the prey is dead or at least completely paralysed, the Peñuela, Universidad Veracruzana, Camino Peñuela-Amatlán s/n, Peñuela, Amatlán de los Reyes, Veracruz 94945, Mexico. spider moves it close to its retreat, where it is wrapped 2 Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Manuel L. Barragán in more silk and attached with threads near the entrance Avenue, Ciudad Universitaria, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo (Madrigal-Brenes and Barrantes, 2009). This last step León 66455, Mexico. was not seen in this encounter, as both predator and prey 3 Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba, Oriente 9, Emiliano Zapata, were collected before it happened. Orizaba, Veracruz 94320, Mexico. * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Acknowledgments. We are very thankful to the anonymous © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. reviewer, who contributed to the improvement of our manuscript. 302 Angel Ivan Contreras Calvario et al.

Figure 1. Participants in the predator-prey interaction between (A) a male Ringneck Coffee Snake, Ninia diademata (black scale bar = 1 cm), and (B) a female Tidarren sisyphoides spider (10 small squares on underlying graph paper = 1 cm). (C) Lateral aspect of the epigynum of the spider, diagnostic for the species. Photos by Manuel de Luna.

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Accepted by Javier Cortés Suárez