Sucrose = Manna for Spiders?

Hello everyone, I hope this content was not already briefed (I searched for it) due to the age of this article(2009). I was browsing JSTOR when I found this;

Plant Nectar Increases Survival, Molting, and Foraging in Two Foliage Wandering Spiders by Robin M. Taylor and Richard A. Bradley

Abstract:
We predicted that because plant nectar is high in energy, it is likely to provide multiple benefits to spiders that spend a substantial amount of energy foraging. In three laboratory experiments, we tested the effects of dietary extrafloral nectar on the survival, molting, and activity of two foliage wanderers, Cheiracanthium mildei L. Koch 1864 (Miturgidae) and Hibana velox (Becker 1879) (Anyphaenidae), both highly active, quick-moving nocturnal foragers. Extrafloral nectar contributed significantly to survival and molting in prey-deprived H. velox. On a marginal diet of prey (one Drosophila adult on alternate days) offered to spiders as soon as they emerged, 97% of C. mildei underwent their first molt if they also received nectar, compared to 7% of controls without nectar. On a marginal diet of prey (one Drosophila adult on alternate days) offered to spiders starting two days after their emergence, 78% of the spiders also receiving nectar molted, compared to 0% of controls without nectar. Video recordings of activity showed that prey-deprived groups of C. mildei maintained their active nocturnal foraging for many days on nectar, whereas controls became increasingly quiescent until they died. Non-web-building spiders that feed on nectar may utilize its energy for foraging and thereby allocate the nutrients of prey to maintenance and growth.

Stable url; http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1636/Sh07-69.1

Some visual info out of the article


Ok, so this research does suffer from a barely passing sample size. That said, the implications are quite amazing. Starved, these spiders survived over 3 times the length with sucrose/nectar than they did with just water. They also had a much higher rate of molting and activity (which they explained as running around a one minute period for 10 minute intervals @ 54 intervals). Is this a blessing or is it just "crack" for spiders and do you think that this could this be transposed for tarantulas? Has anyone used this application? Let me know what you think :coffee:

edit: two additional articles on similar topic (spiders found in nature positive for fructose, http://www.bulletinofinsectology.org/pdfarticles/vol63-2010-203-208chen.pdf + http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=osu1086114717 same author)

i need an eggsac, stat!

it appears trial one and trial two both in Hibana velox? i would question their control of conditions if they 17% molt water only in trial 1 and 0% on trial two, especially when their nectar figures match pretty closely


very interesting, though... their are spiders in mexico that eat acacia nubs, so the whole utter carnivore obligate thinking might be due for a change across the board

i'm going to the University of AZ for a bug thing next weekend. my brother and i are going to see if we can see the full text of this paper there

Usually, when you incorporate nutrients into an animals diet it wasn't adapted to digest, it can cause issues. This may not be applicable, but a lot of cows are fed carb-heavy corn feed, even though they were adapted to eat grass. This wreaks havoc on their health, and they have to give them antibiotics to keep them alive and "healthy". Some say that carbohydrates harm people as well, but that's too controversial to go into here.

But anyway, there could be a lot of health problems the experiment wasn't able to encompass. Do these substances harm longevity? Do they cause more problems with molts? If the spiders were less active (like tarantulas), would it metabolize into something bad? Do they grow dependent on sucrose or nectar?

Comparing life expectancy with just water and the solutions also seems flawed. The ones with the solution were getting some calories, and the ones without got none. So it's only logical that the ones with some calories lived longer.

i think i would maybe want to run an experiment using water, glucose, and sucrose. i would sorta guess glucose is going to be more readily metabolizable because it is simpler. heck, might as well look into the other monosaccharides and see what is maybe worth trying, also.

also, it seems like the metabolic chain for sucrose starts: sucrose is broken down into glucose and fructose (another mono-)