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Issue: Vol. 7 No. 3: June 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-06-29
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.7.3.13
Page range: 435-442
Abstract views: 2
PDF downloaded: 0

Spider-ant predation in Oligo-Miocene Mexican amber

Doctorado en Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, CP 62209, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México; Departamento de Zoología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CP 11340, Ciudad de México, México; Laboratorio de Sistemática Molecular, Escuela de Estudios Superiores del Jicarero, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, CP 62909, Morelos, México
Doctorado en Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, CP 62209, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México; Laboratorio de Sistemática Molecular, Escuela de Estudios Superiores del Jicarero, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, CP 62909, Morelos, México
Laboratorio de Sistemática Molecular, Escuela de Estudios Superiores del Jicarero, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, CP 62909, Morelos, México
Departamento de Zoología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CP 11340, Ciudad de México, México
Ant Azteca palaeoecology Clubionidae

Abstract

Predator-prey interactions have played a pivotal role in the evolutionary history of both predators and prey. Nevertheless, due to spatiotemporal limitations in fossilization, evidence of such interactions is rarely preserved in the fossil record. This report documents the predatory activity of a clubionid sac spider (Araneae: Clubionidae) on an odorous ant (Formicidae: Dolichoderinae: Azteca) preserved in Mexican amber. The fossil material comes from the upper strata of the Simojovel Formation located in Chiapas, Mexico. Its recent dating places it within the temporal confines of the late Oligocene and early Miocene, ca. 24 Mya. This is a direct evidence of spider trapping and feeding behaviour resembling modern habits found in the geological past. The predator-prey interaction in the fossil record provides compelling evidence of biological diversity regarding taxonomic composition and spatial heterogeneity in a tropical and subtropical environment in which these species coexisted.

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