There is an urgent need of increasing the knowledge about natural enemies of Philaenus
spumarius and finding strategies to limit the spread of X. fastidiosa. Generalist predators, such as
spiders, can arise as potential natural control agents. Determining the functional response is crucial
for understanding the potentiality of a predator as biological control agent. In this work, the functional
response of two widespread palearctic spider species belonging to two different functional groups was
assessed. The ambusher spider Synema globosum and the orb-weaver Araniella cucurbitina were used
as model species and P. spumarius as prey under laboratory conditions. In parallel, Ceratitis capitata
was also used as prey in order to compare the spiders´ predatory potential between a non-flying
insect (P. spumarius) and a flying one (C. capitata). A. cucurbitina and S. globosum showed a type II
and type I functional response respectively when fed with P. spumarius and a type II response when
fed with C. capitata. Both the handling time and attack rate were significantly different between spider
species when fed with P. spumarius (p<0.01) and between prey types for each spider functional
group (p<0.01). The results suggest that S. globosum was more efficient capturing spittlebugs one by
one than A. cucurbitina. On the contrary, A. cucurbitina was more efficient killing flies in webs than S.
globosum.This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
programme under grant agreement N. 727987 “Xylella fastidiosa Active Containment Through a
multidisciplinary-Oriented Research Strategy XF-ACTORS”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
