Seasonal population dynamics of a specialized termite-eating spider (Araneae: Ammoxenidae) and its prey (Isoptera: Hodotermitidae)

• Seasonality of Ammoxenus amphalodes is linked to that of Hodotermes mossambicus.
• Reproductive effort of A. amphalodes is tied to seasonality of H. mossambicus.
• Lack of a link to Trinervitermes trinervoides confirms monophagy on H. mossambicus.
• Biocontrol potential is limited due to an insufficient numerical response to prey.

Specialized predators should be adapted spatially and temporally to the occurrence and abundance of their exclusive prey. Several spider species have specialized to feed on prey that is highly aggregated, including ants and termites. Ammoxenus (Araneae: Ammoxenidae) are spiders that are specialist predators of harvester termites in southern Africa. Epigeal spiders and termites were sampled by pitfall trapping from six sites in the Erfenis Dam Nature Reserve, South Africa, over a period of one year. We found Ammoxenus amphalodes Dippenaar & Meyer, and two termite species, Hodotermes mossambicus (Hagen) (Isoptera: Hodotermitidae) and Trinervitermes trinervoides (Sjöstedt) (Isoptera: Termitidae) to be abundant there. Our data show that A. amphalodes is a univoltine species with a wide reproductive period corresponding to the seasonal occurrence of termites. The activity density of A. amphalodes was tightly coupled to the activity density of H. mossambicus, but not to that of T. trinervoides. These data provide further evidence that A. amphalodes is a monophagous true predator. However, its role as a biocontrol agent against termites is limited due to an insufficient numerical response.