Report of spiders preying on adult Culicoides spp. using molecular based marker with notes on its feeding activity.

Spiders prevalent in cattle sheds were observed predating on adult Culicoides sp. Even juveniles of Neoscona mukerjei (Tikader 1980) predated on small insects which included blood engorged Culicoides oxystoma; whereas adults preferred larger one. Adults and juveniles of Menemerus bivittatus (Dufour 1831) and juveniles of Marpissa sp. also feed on engorged adults which were identified as C. peregrinus (Kieffer 1910) and C. oxystoma (Kieffer 1910) collected within the animal sheds. Predations on Culicoides midges by M. bivittatus in field condition were supplemented by gut content analysis using Culicoides sp. specific primer pairs. Diet analysis of M. bivittatus (both sexes) diet collected from two different sheds demonstrated the presence of biting midges as one of the prey. Laboratory experiments on time intervals for prey choice decision by M. bivittatus depicted inter-individual differences, however, no variation was observed in prey selection (different age groups of midges). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]