Abstract. Spiders represent one of the most abundant components of the predatory arthropods in terrestrial ecosystem. Their effectiveness at restricting pest populations, both alone and as part of natural enemy complex has well demonstrated in many countries. The web, web-site attributes and predatory efficiency of Dark Tetragnathid Spider Tetragnatha mandibulata were assessed in Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary between August 2015 and March 2016. In the present study, the spiders used limited number of plants species. The relationship between web architecture and web-site attributes was estimated using Pearson's correlation. Number of spiders recorded in the web showed the positive correlation with web horizontal and vertical length of the capture areas (p<0.05). Similarly, the web circumference showed the positive interaction with plant height and canopy width (p<0.05), which clearly indicated the importance of vegetations across the webs of Dark Tetragnathid Spider. Further, the microhabitat selection and utilization could also be impacted by non-trophic factors like structural features of plants that provide architectural supports to spiders. A total of 4620 insect pests comprising seven orders were entangled by the webs of dark tetragnathid spiders. Number of spiders in the web were positively correlated with number of insect pests (p<0.05), which clearly explained that the Dark Tetragnathid spiders restricting pest populations and therefore they are considered as useful organism in biological control.
Sphecid and Carbronid wasps construct the characteristic nests with unique architectural patterns to lay their eggs and nurture their larvae. The present investigation was carried out the nest characteristic features and prey selection of mud dauber wasp from the A.V.C. College campus from January to March 2019. It deals with nest characteristic features of the active and abandoned nest of mud dauber wasp, studies indicate that Sceliphron madraspatanum nests are built on bright surfaces that are covered against water and immediate sunlight. The nests' height from the ground was less than 2 feet, nest length was less than 5 cm and cell depth or width was less than 3 cm. The mean number of orifices and cells was 6.0 and the cell length range was measured from 2.25 to 1.92 cm. Nests' shape was a maximum rectangle and a few were irregular shapes. In active nests, mean height from the ground and orifices or cells were lesser than the inactive nests. Likewise, the nest length and depth of the cells or width, weight were higher than the inactive nests. A total of 24 larvae were isolated from the 20 cells and weighed around 3.15 g. Similarly, the feed was also isolated and tally as 153 paralyzed individuals which belong to order Araneae and weighed 17.27 g. It concluded that the nest of mud dauber wasp showed species-specific architecture and it feed the spiders of an agroecosystem. From this research, the wasp might be considered a beneficial insect for the agroecosystem.
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