A perilous Malagasy triad: a spider (Vigdisia praesidens, gen. and sp. nov.) and an ant compete for termite food

Ants and termites are insect groups that make up most of the insect biomass in tropical ecosystems. Due to their social structure and abundance, they are some of the most bountiful prey available to other invertebrates such as spiders. However, ants and termites possess dangerous defense strategies, thus limiting their accessibility to general predators. Here, we report on an unexpected finding of a three-way predator-prey-kleptoparasite interaction in Madagascar among a termite Nasutitermes sp. (prey), a previously unknown theridiid spider Vigdisia praesidens gen. nov., sp. nov. (predator), and an ant Pheidole spinosa (kleptoparasite). Our field observations suggest that the spiders are able to detect a damaged termite nest from a distance to disperse onto it and prey on its residents. Kleptoparasitic ants also arrive on the scene to steal from the spiders their termite prey. Both the spider and the ant seem to possess some degree of behavioural prey specialisation for Nasutitermes ter..., , , # A Perilous Malagasy Triad: Spider and Ant Compete for Termite Food

Dryad DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0zpc8673t

See the related article published here: [https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.2024.2373185](https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.2024.2373185)

## Description of the data and file structure

This is the supplementary material of the publication titled A perilous Malagasy triad: a spider (*Vigdisia praesidens*, gen. and sp. nov.) and an ant compete for termite food, published in the jorunal *New Zealand Journal of Zoology*. The supporting information published here consists of one .fasta file with COI sequences reported on in the paper and four supporting videos files that show the behavior described in the paper.

Supporting video 1: First incidence of a spider, V. praesidens new species, catching a termite.
Supporting video 2: Two V. praesidens new species spiders fighting for already caught termite prey.
Supporting video 3: Pheidole spinosa ants steal already caught termites from V. praes...