352 
Psyche 
[December 
Discussion 
Curimagua bavano is an extreme case of specialization in spiders. 
It is the first spider described which is not a predator and not even a 
carnivore sensu strictu, but an ectoparasite or — in the terms of 
Robinson and Robinson (1977) — a dipsoparasite, resembling, in 
a way, representatives of another and most successful Arachnid 
order, the mites (Acarina) which produced many parasite genera 
(Vollrath, E., 1978). Curimagua bayano should not be called a 
commensal (Gray, 1967) since the fluids imbibed are either the 
host’s costly digestive enzymes (5% protein solution in Tegenaria 
’trica; Mommsen, 1977) or liquefied prey tissue. In both cases, 
Curimagua deprives its host of nutritive proteins, thus reducing its 
fitness. 
Acknowledgmemts 
My thanks go to Drs. H. Levi and N. Platnick for identification 
of the spiders, to Dr. R. Foelix for help with the scanning electron 
microscopy, and Drs. M. Robinson, D. Morrison, and D. Windsor 
for comments on the manuscript. Figure 1 was drawn by Arcadio 
Rodaniche after photographs and a specimen. The work was 
supported by a Noble Fellowship from the Smithsonian Tropical 
Research Institute. 
References 
Brignoli, P. M. 
1966. La societa eterotipiche degli Araneidi 1. Rend. Acad. Naz. 16 : 219-246. 
Forster, R. R. and Platnick, N. I. 
1977. A review of the spider family Symphytognathidae. Am. Mus. Nov. 2619 : 
1-29. 
Gray, P. 
1967. Dictionary of the Biological Sciences. Reinhold, New York. 
Kraus, O. 
1955. Spinnen aus El Salvador. Abh. Senckenb. Naturf. Ges. 493: 31. 
Mommsen, T. P. 
1977. Zusammensetzung und Funktion extraintestinaler Verdauungsfluessig- 
keit und Gift einer Spinne ( Tegenaria atrica Koch). Dissertation, Univ. 
Freiburg. 
Platnick, N. I. and Shadab, M. U. 
1978. A review of the spider genus Mysmenopsis. Am. Mus. Nov. 2661 : 1-22. 
