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ABSTRACT:
Background
All vectors of human malaria, a disease responsible for more than one million deaths per year, are female mosquitoes from the genus
Anopheles. Evarcha culicivora is an East African jumping spider (Salticidae) that feeds indirectly on vertebrate blood by selecting blood-carrying female mosquitoes as preferred prey.
Methodology/Principal Findings
By testing with motionless lures made from mounting dead insects in lifelike posture on cork discs, we show that
E. culicivora selects
Anopheles mosquitoes in preference to other mosquitoes and that this predator can identify
Anopheles by static appearance alone. Tests using active (grooming) virtual mosquitoes rendered in 3-D animation show that
Anopheles' characteristic resting posture is an important prey-choice cue for
E. culicivora. Expression of the spider's preference for
Anopheles varies with the spider's size, varies with its prior feeding condition and is independent of the spider gaining a blood meal.
Conclusions/Significance
This is the first experimental study to show that a predator of any type actively chooses
Anopheles as preferred prey, suggesting that specialized predators having a role in the biological control of disease vectors is a realistic possibility.
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This article is available online directly from
PLoS ONE. (if link broken, try the
DOI)