Hello,
Have only lurked for months after having been graciously admitted to this forum, I thought I should post something I found recently. Does this image suggest that crab spiders feed on pollen when meat is in short supply? Thanks for looking.
Bing
Misumena vatia on Achillea millefolia
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Hi Bing, I immediately thought of water for your question, google search found and confirmed this hypothesis http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3584577
the picture has good light (hours shooting photos?)
the picture has good light (hours shooting photos?)
Antonio
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To clarify...
The link provided by nto documents that certain male spiders drink nectar, prefer nectar to plain water, and that availability of nectar significantly extends their lifespan. Presumably pollen would get stuck on them in the process.
It's a strong argument, that specialization of the mouthparts would prevent actual feeding on pollen, but it's not iron-clad.
The same argument could be made for butterflies and their proboscis, but it is well documented that certain butterflies do feed on pollen and derive nutrition from it. See "Pollen Feeding in the Butterfly Heliconius charitonia: Isotopic Evidence for Essential Amino Acid Transfer from Pollen to Eggs", here.
--Rik
The link provided by nto documents that certain male spiders drink nectar, prefer nectar to plain water, and that availability of nectar significantly extends their lifespan. Presumably pollen would get stuck on them in the process.
It's a strong argument, that specialization of the mouthparts would prevent actual feeding on pollen, but it's not iron-clad.
The same argument could be made for butterflies and their proboscis, but it is well documented that certain butterflies do feed on pollen and derive nutrition from it. See "Pollen Feeding in the Butterfly Heliconius charitonia: Isotopic Evidence for Essential Amino Acid Transfer from Pollen to Eggs", here.
--Rik
It also looks like it has alot of pollen under it`s abdomen in the picture. When you live on flowers, I am sure you pick up a lot of pollen moving around. A very interesting link I would have never guessed some male spiders drinking necter. The spider looks like it is watching the sunset.
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda
Doug Breda