Predation by a Brown Widow Spider, Latrodectus - Biotaxa
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Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 291-296 (2021) (published online on 09 February 2021)
Predation by a Brown Widow Spider, Latrodectus
geometricus (Koch, 1841), on a Common Dwarf Gecko,
Lygodactylus capensis (Smith, 1849), with a review of the
herpetofaunal diet of Latrodectus spiders
Daniel van Blerk1, John Measey1,*, and James Baxter-Gilbert1
The Common Dwarf Gecko, Lygodactylus capensis box (Fig. 1A). The lizard was initially found at 17:13 h,
(Smith, 1849), is a small, diurnal gekkonid with a writhing in the web and suspended above its autotomised
wide African distribution, ranging from Kenya to tail, which lay on the base of the electrical box. At this
northeastern South Africa and extending westward time, the spider was present on the electrical box, but not
into Namibia and Angola (Rebelo et al., 2019). This in contact with the lizard. Shortly after being observed
species is naturally absent from western South Africa, and identified, the spider retreated into the refuge of the
but invasive populations have been observed scattered electrical box. By 17:18 h the lizard was motionless and
across much of the country – including in large urban appeared dead, its hind legs having been wrapped against
centres such as Bloemfontein, Cape Town, East London, the body with spider silk (Fig. 1B). On the final visit to
George, Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), and Port the electrical box at 17:48 h, the deceased lizard had been
Elizabeth (Rebelo et al., 2019; Conradie et al., 2020). removed from its original position in the web and could
The successful spread of L. capensis may be attributed not be seen. We presume the spider had pulled the body
to this lizard’s proclivity for urban ecosystems and other further into its refuge to feed on it safely without further
heavily human-modified habitats, as these lizards are able disturbance.
to exploit novel resources and can capitalise on human Previous reports have stated that these lizards are
transportation networks to facilitate extralimital range frequent prey items for a variety of vertebrates, including
expansions (Rebelo et al., 2019). This anthropophilic birds, lizards, mammals, and snakes (Simbotwe, 1983;
behaviour, however, may also result in L. capensis Maritz and Maritz, 2020a,b), as well as predatory
encountering other urbanised taxa more frequently – invertebrates, including Rain Spiders (genus Palystes),
including potential predators such as Latrodectus spiders. Baboon Spiders (genus Harpactirella), Crab Spiders
Here we report one such encounter, during which a L. (genus Misumena), and mantids (genus Sphodromantis)
capensis was seen to have been attacked by a Brown (Warren, 1923; Bauer, 1990; Maritz and Maritz, 2020a,b).
Widow Spider, Latrodectus geometricus (Koch, 1841), To the best of our knowledge, this is the first observation
in one of the lizard’s invasive populations near George, of a predation event by L. geometricus on L. capensis.
South Africa (centred on 33.99°S, 22.45°E). Latrodectus geometricus has a near-global distribution
On 19 August 2020 at a private residence in Heather related to its anthropophilic nature, with known invasive
Park, George, Western Cape, South Africa (33.9581°S, populations in North and South America, Hawaii, and
22.4213°E), the first author observed an adult dwarf across Australasia (Taucare-Ríos et al., 2016), and it
gecko (L. capensis) entangled within a brown widow (L. is presumed to be native to southern Africa (see Garb
geometricus) web inside an outdoor dual-socket electrical et al., 2004; Brown et al., 2008; Measey et al., 2020).
Across its native and invasive range, L. geometricus
has been seen to feed on a wide variety of herpetofauna
(Table 1). Known African reptile prey items in the
1
Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and native range include Herald Snakes, Crotaphopeltis
Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western hotamboeia (Laurenti, 1768), Brown House Snakes,
Cape, South Africa. Boaedon capensis (Boie, 1827), and Kalahari Tree
*
Corresponding author. Email: jmeasey@sun.ac.za Skinks, Trachylepis spilogaster (Peters, 1882) (Bayliss,
© 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 2001; Maritz and Maritz 2020a,b). Observations of292 Daniel van Blerk et al.
Figure 1. A live adult Common Dwarf Gecko, Lygodactylus capensis, entangled in the web of a Brown Widow Spider, Latrodectus
geometricus, at Heather Park, George, Western Cape, South Africa. The lizard was alive at 17:13 h (A) and appeared to be dead
by 17:18 h (B). Upon first observation, the spider was seen and identified, however it retreated before it could be photographed
and remained reluctant to emerge. The autotomised tail can be seen suspended in the web between the switches as indicated by
the red arrow in (A).
L. geometricus feeding on herpetofauna within their frenatus in Mexico (de Luna et al., 2020) or L. capensis.
invasive ranges in the Americas include Scarlet Snakes, The increasing expansion of urban areas globally
Cemophora coccinea (Blumenbach, 1788) (Stevenson (Chen et al., 2020), along with continued transport and
and Crook, 2018), Asian House Geckos, Hemidactylus propagation of invasive species (Seebens et al., 2017), have
frenatus Duméril & Bibron, 1836 (de Luna et al., 2020), led to novel predator-prey interactions in anthropogenic
Brahminy Blindsnakes, Indotyphlops braminus (Daudin, habitats. Although in general both L. capensis and L.
1803) (Martínez-Coronel and Navarrete-Jiménez, 2018), geometricus are native southern African species, the fact
and Black-headed Snakes, Tantilla melanocephala that they both capitalise on human habitats may result in
(Linneaus, 1758) (Rocha et al., 2017). Taken together, increased interactions between them, especially as urban
it is clear that these spiders are formidable predators of populations in their native and invasive ranges expand.
small-bodied reptiles. Overall, this observation adds both to the growing list of
In general, spiders of the genus Latrodectus have known predators for L. capensis and known vertebrate
a global reputation for feeding on vertebrate prey, prey for Latrodectus spiders.
including a variety of herpetofauna – encompassing
Acknowledgments. We thank Robin and Bryan Maritz for their
frogs, lizards, and snakes (Table 1). As a group, these
insight into the variety of known predators of L. capensis and
spiders possess potent venom and strong webs, enabling
access to their Predation Records Online Data Repository, which
them to capture and kill prey items considerably larger was immensely helpful in writing this manuscript. We would also
than themselves (O’Shea and Kelly, 2017; Nyffeler and like to thank the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion
Vetter, 2018). Furthermore, Latrodectus spiders have a Biology for their support.
tendency to thrive in anthropogenic habitats, possibly
associated with beneficial structural, thermal, and hydric References
conditions associated with urban landscapes, which has Arteaga-Tinoco, I., Anguiano-Peña, J., Raya-García E., Alvarado-
further expanded their cosmopolitan distribution (Vink et Díaz, J. (2016): Natural history notes. Hyla eximia (Mountain
al., 2011). Thus, it is unsurprising that they have been Tree Frog). Predation. Herpetological Review 47: 641–642.
regularly seen feeding on other anthropophilic taxa, such Bayliss, P.S. (2001): Natural history notes. Lamprophis fuliginosus
(Brown House Snake). Predation. Herpetological Review 32:
as invasive and human-commensal herpetofauna, like H.
48–49.Table 1. Amphibian and reptile prey of Latrodectus spiders.
Prey Taxon Latrodectus Species Reference
FROGS Hylidae
Dryophytes eximius (Baird, 1854) L. mactans Fabricius, 1775 Arteaga-Tinoco et al., 2016
LIZARDS Anguidae
Elgaria multicarinata (Blainville, 1835) L. hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935 Thill and Feldman, 2019
Gekkonidae
Christinus marmoratus (Gray, 1845) L. hasselti Thorell, 1870 König, 1987; Orange, 2007
Gehyra variegata (Duméril & Bibron, 1836) L. hasselti Orange, 2007
Hemidactylus frenatus (Duméril & Bibron, 1836) L. geometricus de Luna et al., 2020
Lacertidae
Acanthodactylus erythrurus (Schinz, 1833) L. lilianae Melic, 2000 Hódar and Sánchez-Piñero, 2002
Mesalina guttulata (Lichtenstein, 1823) L. pallidus Charitonov, 1954 Blondheim and Werner, 1989
Latrodectus Predation on Amphibians and Reptiles
Mesalina guttulata L. revivensis Shulov, 1948 Zilberberg, 1988
Podarcis melisellensis (Braun, 1877) L. tredecimguttatus Rossi, 1790 Schwammer and Baurecht, 1988
Psammodromus algirus (Linnaeus, 1758) L. lilianae Hódar and Sánchez-Piñero, 2002
Psammodromus hispanicus Fitzinger, 1826 L. lilianae Hódar and Sánchez-Piñero, 2002
Phrynosomatidae
Phrynosoma hernandesi Girard, 1858 L. hesperus Painter and Kamees, 2010
Uta stansburiana Baird & Girard, 1852 L. mactans Wilson, 1991; Lane, 2012
Phyllodactylidae
Tarentola mauritanica (Linnaeus, 1758) L. lilianae Hódar and Sánchez-Piñero, 2002
Scincidae
Anomalopus verreauxii Duméril, 1851 L. hasselti Raven, 1990
Chalcides ocellatus (Forskal, 1775) L. tredecimguttatus Colombo, 2013
Cryptoblepharus pulcher (Sternfeld, 1918) L. hasselti Cook, 1973; Raven, 1990
Hemiergis quadrilineata (Duméril & Bibron, 1839) L. hasselti Orange, 2007
Lampropholis delicata (De Vis, 1888) L. hasselti Metcalfe and Ridgeway, 2013
Lampropholis guichenoti (Duméril & Bibron, 1839) L. hasselti Copland, 1953
Lygosoma sp. L. hasselti McKeown, 1943
293Table 1 (cont.)
294
Prey Taxon Latrodectus Species Reference
Scincidae (cont.)
Scincella lateralis (Say, 1822) L. mactans Neill, 1948
Saproscincus mustelinus (O’Shaughnessy, 1874) L. hasselti O’Shea and Kelly, 2014
Trachylepis punctatissima (Smith, 1849) L. indistinctus Pickard-Cambridge, 1904 Maritz and Maritz 2020a,b
Trachylepis spilogaster (Peters, 1882) L. geometricus Maritz and Maritz 2020a,b
Teiidae
Aspidoscelis gularis (Baird & Girard, 1852) L. mactans Carbajal-Márquez et al., 2014
SNAKES Colubridae
Cemophora coccinea (Blumenbach, 1788) L. geometricus Stevenson and Crook, 2018
Contia tenuis (Baird & Girard, 1852) L. mactans Beaman and Tucker, 2014
Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia (Laurenti, 1768) L. geometricus Bayliss, 2001; Maritz and Maritz, 2020a,b
Hypsiglena chlorophaea Cope 1860 L. mactans Ervin and Carroll, 2007
Liochlorophis vernalis (Harlan, 1827) L. mactans Neill, 1948
Storeria dekayi (Holbrook, 1839) L. mactans Neill, 1948
Tantilla melanocephala (Linnaeus, 1758) L. geometricus Rocha et al., 2017
Elapidae
Micruroides euryxanthus (Kennicott, 1860) L. hesperus Jones et al., 2011
Suta dwyeri (Worrell, 1956) L. hasselti O’Shea and Kelly, 2014
Suta monachus (Storr, 1964) L. hasselti Orange, 1990
Suta nigriceps (Günther, 1863) L. hasselti O’Shea and Kelly, 2014
Pseudechis porphyriacus (Shaw, 1794) L. hasselti McCormick and Polis, 1982
Pseudonaja affinis Günther, 1872 L. hasselti de Rebeira, 1981
Lamprophiidae
Boaedon fuliginosus (Boie, 1827) L. geometricus Bayliss, 2001
Typhlopidae
Indotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803) L. geometricus Martínez-Coronel and Navarrete-Jiménez, 2018
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