A bibliometric study of odonate–spider predator–prey dynamics

Predation interactions between spiders and odonates are understudied. We compiled information on spiders that prey on Odonata and Odonata that prey on spiders. A systematic search was conducted in Web of Science™, Google Scholar™, and Google™ to address the following questions: What was the objective or focus of each study, and what taxonomic resolution was used? What were the habitats and vegetation types examined? What were the leading countries where the articles were developed, and in what time period? Finally, which journals are they being published in? Information on the manuscripts was examined to extract the year of publication, publishing journal, country, research focus, taxonomic resolution, and keywords. Data were grouped over 30 years, and information on taxonomic resolution was classified from species to order. The findings revealed 136 spider species preying on 199 Odonata species and 35 odonate species preying on 10 spider species. Most studies focused on natural history, behavior, and ecology, reaching the species taxonomic level. The publications were primarily authored by scientists from the USA and India, although the studies themselves were from 30 countries. They were published between 1903 and 2024 in 72 journals, with an increase in the number of publications over time. The journals with the highest number of published articles were the International Journal of Odonatology and Odonatologica. We close by suggesting topics to guide future research on odonate and spider predator–prey interactions.