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Observations on the feeding of some British false scorpions.
Author(s) -
Sc. OWEN GILBERT. M.
Publication year - 1951
Publication title -
proceedings of the zoological society of london
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0370-2774
DOI - 10.1111/j.1096-3642.1951.tb00755.x
Subject(s) - arthropod mouthparts , predation , biology , zoology , genus , feeding behavior , ecology
SUMMARY. Food capture and feeding in four British false scorpions was studied by providing captive animals with Drosophila larvae. Ncobisium muscorum. N. maritimum and Dactylochelifer latreilli made considerable use of the pedipalps in food capture while Chthonius ischnocelus disabled the prey with the chelicerae, behaviour possibly correlated with the large chelicerae and with the absence of a palpal venom apparatus in the genus Chthoius. During feeding in D. latreilli , the chelicerae were quite still, whereas in Neobisium and Chthonius they actively kneaded the prey. A correlation between the structure of the cheliceral serrulae and the method of feeding is suggested.