1978] Lubin, Eberhard, & Montgomery — Miagrammopes 15 
thread after wrapping the prey instead of attaching it to the drag- 
line. The capture thread was destroyed even when a substantial 
portion remained undamaged, suggesting that the catching capa- 
city of the thread does not limit the number of prey items the spider 
will attack. Since Miagrammopes does not attach prey at the feed- 
ing site (this is also true of Uloborus diversus — Eberhard 1967), 
it is likely that the size of the prey package the spider can hold in 
its palps limits it to capturing only a few insects in succession. 
Prey capture in M. sp. 2, M. intempus, M. sp. 3, and M. sp. 4 
Attack and prey capture behaviors of M. intempus, M. sp. 2, 
M. sp. 3, and M. sp. 4 were similar to those described above, in- 
volving dramatic sags of the capture thread as the spider ap- 
proached the prey, wrapping of the prey at the capture site, and 
continued wrapping after the spider returned to the resting thread. 
One M. sp. 3 responded to a vibrating tuning fork held nearby 
by quickly tightening the capture thread, either by pulling it in with 
leg I or by pulling in the resting thread with leg IV. Four attacks 
of M. intempus were observed, and in all cases the spider sagged 
the capture thread before encountering the prey, then attacked it 
by wrapping. One insect, an odorous pentatomid bug, was tapped 
repeatedly with the front legs before being wrapped and discarded. 
In one sequence it was possible to ascertain that the sticky capture 
thread was wadded up as the spider approached the prey, and was 
laid onto it as wrapping began. 
Prey species captured 
Prey taken from webs of an unidentified Miagrammopes sp. in 
Bayano, Panama which constructed a web with a single capture 
thread like that of M. simus included the following insects: 1 wasp, 
1 winged ant, 2 nematocerous flies (1 psychodid), and 1 unidenti- 
fied. An additional 29 prey collected as M. sp 1 fed on them included 
14 winged ants of two species, 3 wasps, 2 nematocerous flies, 2 other 
flies, 1 beetle, and 7 unidentified insects. Four flies were collected 
as M. sp. 3 fed on them: 2 nematocerans of probably different fam- 
ilies, a dolichopodid fly, and one acalyptrate. One small beetle was 
taken from an immature M. sp. 4. These lists make it clear that the 
spiders prey on a wide variety of insects, and are not specialists on 
any one group. 
