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Predation of Exotic Anolis Porcatus Gray, 1840 (Squamata: Dactyloidae) by the Exotic Cyrtophora Citricola (Forskål, 1775) (Araneae: Araneidae) in Brazil

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Predation of Exotic Anolis Porcatus Gray, 1840 (Squamata: Dactyloidae) by the Exotic Cyrtophora Citricola (Forskål, 1775) (Araneae: Araneidae) in Brazil Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 1099-1101 (2020) (published online on 28 December 2020) Caught in the alien web: predation of exotic Anolis porcatus Gray, 1840 (Squamata: Dactyloidae) by the exotic Cyrtophora citricola (Forskål, 1775) (Araneae: Araneidae) in Brazil Karla L. R. Antonio1, Guilherme Sichieri1,2, Pedro Henrique A. G. Moura1,2, Ricardo R. Samelo3, Fabiana R. Costa4, and Ivan Nunes1,* The Cuban green anole, Anolis porcatus Gray, 1840 including Brazil (Álvares and De Maria, 2004; Martins (Squamata: Dactyloidae) (Fig. 1A), is an exotic lizard in and Santos, 2018). Spiders of this genus are mainly Brazil and it belongs to the Anolis carolinensis species distributed in Asia, subtropical Africa and Australian group (Rodríguez-Schettino, 1999; Prates et al., 2016). region (World Spider Catalog, 2020). They build The species is well adapted to urbanised and highly specialised non-sticky webs to catch their prey, which anthropised environments where it can be found in street are typically comprised by flying insects that get trapped lampposts, fences, shrubs, trees and lawns (Prates et al., on the dense mesh (Levi, 1997) and can be restrained 2016). Their individuals are mainly insectivores, but by direct biting or immobilisation wrapping (Lubin, occasionally feed on plant material or small vertebrates 1980). A well-marked characteristic of webs built by (Rodríguez-Schettino, 1999). These characteristics Cyrtophora spiders are their strength and endurance, enable this species to be easily introduced in other which would be an adaptation to withstand strong winds areas, including the Baixada Santista region at the and rainfall in open habitats (Lubin, 1973). Southeastern coast of Brazil where it has been recently On 05 May 2017, around 11:00 h, we observed a reported (Samelo and Barrela, 2016) in an ever-growing predation event on Anolis porcatus by Cyrtophora number (IN, unpublished data). citricola in the Sambaiatuba Environmental Park, The orb-weaving spider Cyrtophora citricola (Forskål, São Vicente, São Paulo, Brazil (~ 23°56’44.83”S, 1775) (Fig. 1B) is an araneid native from the Old World, 46°23’12.39”W, 11 m a.s.l.). An individual of A. but it has been recorded in several countries throughout porcatus was caught on the web of a female C. citricola the Americas (e.g., Alayón, 2003; Víquez, 2007), (identified by M.Sc. Pedro Henrique Martins, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil). The prey was in an advanced decomposition stage (Fig. 1C), but the head still allowed the identification by the presence of dewlap. There are no other species of Anolis collected in the area 1 Laboratory of Herpetology (LHERP), Institute of Biosciences, and surroundings. The area is a socio-environmental Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho park created by city authorities to function as a leisure (UNESP), Campus do Litoral Paulista. Pça. Infante D. and environmental education place. The surroundings Henrique, s/n, 11330-900, São Vicente, SP, Brazil. are densely populated with low-income improvised 2 Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade de Ambientes Costeiros, Institute of Biosciences, Universidade Estadual houses where exotic A. porcatus are easily found in Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Campus do high numbers. Thus, it is more likely that the observed Litoral Paulista. Pça. Infante D. Henrique, s/n, 11330-900, individual got accidentally trapped on the spider’s web São Vicente, SP, Brazil. where it was then consumed by the arachnid. 3 Universidade Paulista (Unip), Campus Rangel. Avenida Predation by spiders on small reptiles is not unusual, Francisco Manoel, s/n, 11075-110, Santos, SP, Brazil. and has been reported for multiple species before (e.g., 4 Laboratory of Vertebrate Paleontology and Animal Maffei et al., 2010; Vieira et al., 2012). However, Behavior (LAPC), Center of Natural and Human Sciences, Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), campus São predation events on anole lizards by spiders are not Bernardo do Campo, Alameda da Universidade, s/n, 09606- common and have been documented twice before (Armas 045, São Bernardo do Campo, SP, Brazil. and Alayón, 1987; Corey, 1988). Armas and Alayón * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] (1987) have documented A. porcatus being predated by 1100 Karla L. R. Antonio et al. Figure 1. The predation scene of Anolis porcatus by Cyrtophora cytricola at Sambaiatuba Environmental Park, São Vicente, São Paulo state, Brazil. A) Live male A. porcatus; B) Live C. cytricola individual; and C) Predation on A. porcatus (red arrow on the upper right corner) by C. cytricola (red arrow on the lower left corner). Photographs by I. Nunes. Argiope trifasciata Forskål, 1775 (Araneidae) in Cuba prevalence in urbanised environments, more occurrences (Armas and Alayón, 1987), which is closely related to of such nature can be expected. Invasive anole lizards Cyrtophora spiders (clade “Argiopines”; Scharff et al., may have a disastrous impact on ecosystems, displacing 2019). Both records were sighted at the native habitats or predating the native species (Amador et al., 2017). of these anole lizards, and the latter also involving an Therefore, knowing its interactions with other species araneid spider. However, as far as we know, our record in Brazil is of fundamental importance to delineate is the first of spider predation on an Anole lizard where conservation programs and protect these native species. both species are exotic. Nevertheless, given their Predation of exotic Anolis porcatus by the exotic Cyrtophora citricola in Brazil 1101 Acknowledgements. We are thankful to Flora A. Juncá (UEFS) Martins, P.H., Santos, A.J. (2018): Morphology and taxonomy of for the valuable comments on the manuscript, Herpetology Lab at the orb-weaving spider genus Mecynogea, and a peculiar species UNESP crew for helping with fieldwork and to Pedro Henrique of Argiope (Araneae, Araneidae). Zootaxa 4415: 423–451. Martins (UFMG) for identifying the spider specimen. PM and GS Prates, I., Hernandez, L., Samelo, R.R., Carnaval, A.C. (2016): acknowledge Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Molecular identification and geographic origin of an exotic Nível Superior (CAPES) for scholarship funding. anole lizard introduced to Brazil, with remarks on its natural history. South American Journal of Herpetology 11: 220–227. References Rodríguez-Schettino, L. (1999): Iguanid lizards of Cuba. University Press of Florida. Alayón, G.G. (2003): Cyrtophora citricola (Araneidae), registro Samelo, R.R., Barrela, W. (2016): Geographic distribution: Anolis nuevo de araña para Cuba. Cocuyo 13: 14. porcatus (Cuban Green Anole). Herpetological Review 47: Álvares, É.S.S, De Maria, M. (2004): First record of Cyrtophora 256. citricola (Forskål) in Brazil (Araneae, Araneidae). Revista Scharff, N., Coddington, J.A., Blackledge, T.A., Agnarsson, Brasileira de Zoologia 21: 155–156. I., Framenau, V.W., Szűts, T., et al. (2019): Phylogeny of the Armas, L.F., Alayón, G.G. (1987): Observaciones sobre la ecología orb-weaving spider family Araneidae (Araneae: Araneoidea). trófica de una población de Argiope trifasciata (Araneae: Cladistics 36: 1–21. Araneidae) en el Sur de La Habana. Poeyana 344: 1–18. Vieira, W.L.S., Gonçalves, M.B.R., Nóbrega, R.P. (2012): Predation Corey, D.T. (1988): Comments on a wolf spider feeding on a green on Tropidurus hispidus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) by Lasiodora anole lizard. The Journal of Arachnology 16: 391–392. klugi (Aranea: Theraphosidae) in the semiarid caatinga region of Levi, H.W. (1997): The American orb weavers of the genera northeastern Brazil. Biota Neotropica 12: 263–265. Mecynogea, Manogea, Kapogea and Cyrtophora (Araneae: Víquez, C. (2007): First record of Cyrtophora citricola (Forskal) Araneidae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at from Costa Rica, with notes on some related species (Araneae: Harvard College 155: 215–255. Araneidae). Boletín Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa 40: Lubin, Y.D. (1973): Web structure and function: the non-adhesive 385–388. orb-web of Cyrtophora moluccensis (Doleschall) (Araneae: World Spider Catalog (2020): World Spider Catalog. Version 21.0. Araneidae). Forma et Functio 6: 337–358. Natural History Museum Bern. Available at: https://wsc.nmbe. Lubin, Y.D. (1980): The predatory behavior of Cyrtophora ch/. Accessed on 29 May 2020. (Araneae: Araneidae). Journal of Arachnology 8: 159–185. Maffei, F., Ubaid, F.K., Jim, J. (2010): Predation of herps by spiders (Araneae) in the Brazilian Cerrado. Herpetology Notes 3: 167–170. Accepted by Robson Ávila.
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