Orchestrating the score: complex multimodal courtship in the Habronattus coecatus group of Habronattus jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) (original) (raw)
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PLoS ONE, 2011
The peacock spider, Maratus volans, has one of the most elaborate courtship displays in arthropods. Using regular and highspeed video segments captured in the lab, we provide detailed descriptions of complete male courtship dances. As research on jumping spiders has demonstrated that males of some species produce vibrations concurrently with visual displays, we also used laser vibrometry to uncover such elements for this species. Our recordings reveal and describe for the first time, that M. volans males use vibratory signals in addition to complex body ornaments and motion displays. The peacock spider and other closely related species are outstanding study organisms for testing hypotheses about the evolution and functional significance of complex displays, thus, this descriptive study establishes a new model system for behavioral ecology, one that certainly stands to make important contributions to the field.
Animal Behaviour, 1999
Male wolf spiders within the genus Schizocosa display considerable variation in foreleg ornamentation as well as in courtship communication. Multiple modes of male signaling have evolved in a number of species. Divergence in courtship signals among species within this genus may be directly associated with variation in the sensory sensitivities of conspecific females. We isolated the visual and vibratory courtship cues of four species of Schizocosa and recorded conspecific female receptivity to each isolated cue. We also examined female receptivity to complete multimodal courtship signals. We found that the sensory sensitivities of conspecific females were associated with the predominant modes of male courtship communication. Species in which females use mostly stridulatory cues in assessing conspecific males tended to have stridulation-based male courtship displays (S. duplex and S. uetzi) while the opposite was true for species in which females used more visual cues in male assessment (S. stridulans and S. crassipes). This study suggests coevolution between male signal design and female sensory design. We discuss possible scenarios that could be driving this coevolution, including hypotheses of sensory bias and environmental constraints.
Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 2002
Spiders perceive the world using multiple sensory modes, including vibration, vision, and chemical senses, for prey detection and communication. These sensory modes are used in many communication contexts, either individually or in multimodal signaling. Selection for effective signaler-receiver communication and species discrimination is especially strong for these predatory and potentially cannibalistic arthropods, resulting in the evolution of considerable diversity in signaling behaviors. In this paper, we review sensory mechanisms involved in spider signaling and present an overview of recent work done on wolf spiders (Lycosidae) that use multimodal communication (simultaneous visual and vibratory signals) in sexual signals during courtship. The relative importance of visual and vibratory signaling modes, and the use of multiple modes varies among closely related species in the genus Schizocosa, providing a model system for investigating multisensory guidance of complex behavior. Here we examine previous and current research on responses of female spiders to components of male courtship behavior, using several experimental techniques including cue isolation (single sensory modes), video/audio digitization and playback, and cueconflict (mixed conspecific/heterospecific components) to tease apart elements of multimodal signaling.
Control of signaling alignment during the dynamic courtship display of a jumping spider
Behavioral Ecology
During communication, alignment between signals and sensors can be critical. Signals are often best perceived from specific angles, and sensory systems can also exhibit strong directional biases. However, we know little about how animals establish and maintain such signaling alignment during communication. To investigate this, we characterized the spatial dynamics of visual courtship signaling in the jumping spider Habronattus pyrrithrix. The male performs forward-facing displays involving complex color and movement patterns, with distinct long-and short-range phases. The female views displays with 2 distinct eye types and can only perceive colors and fine patterns of male displays when they are presented in her frontal field of view. Whether and how courtship interactions produce such alignment between male display and female field of view is unknown. We recorded relative positions and orientations of both actors throughout courtship and established the role of each sex in maintaining signaling alignment. Males always oriented their displays toward the female. However, when females were free to move, male displays were consistently aligned with female principal eyes only during short-range courtship. When female position was fixed, signaling alignment consistently occurred during both phases, suggesting that female movement reduces communication efficacy. When female models were experimentally rotated to face away during courtship, males rarely repositioned themselves to realign their display. However, males were more likely to present certain display elements after females turned to face them. Thus, although signaling alignment is a function of both sexes, males appear to rely on female behavior for effective communication.
Vibratory courtship in a web-building spider: signalling quality or stimulating the female?
Animal Behaviour, 2003
Courtship behaviour in spiders in the form of premating vibrations by males may function (1) as a male identity signal used for species recognition, (2) in suppression of female aggressiveness, (3) to stimulate female mating behaviour, or (4) as a quality signal used in female choice. We investigated the function of web vibration by male Stegodyphus lineatus in a series of experiments. Regardless of vibratory performance, all males mated successfully with virgin females but only 56.4% of males mated with nonvirgin females. Vibratory performance did not influence male mating success, but heavier males had a higher probability of mating with mated females. Males vibrated less often and produced fewer vibrations when introduced on the web of a mated female. Males that vibrated webs of virgin females mated faster than nonvibrating males, but there was no effect of vibration rate or body mass. There was no effect of male vibratory effort or vibration rate on female reproductive success measured as time to egg laying, clutch size, number of hatched young, number of dispersed young and offspring body mass after a single mating. Males vibrated on abandoned virgin female webs but the response decreased with increasing duration of female absence, suggesting that females produce a web-borne pheromone, which elicits male vibrating behaviour. Mated females were less receptive and not stimulated by male vibrating behaviour. We conclude that male premating vibrations in S. lineatus do not function as a male quality signal selected via female choice. Rather, the primary function of this behaviour may be to stimulate a receptive female to mate.
Frequent misdirected courtship in a natural community of colorful Habronattus jumping spiders
PloS one, 2017
Male courtship display is common in many animals; in some cases, males engage in courtship indiscriminately, spending significant time and energy courting heterospecifics with whom they have no chance of mating or producing viable offspring. Due to high costs and few if any benefits, we might expect mechanisms to evolve to reduce such misdirected courtship (or 'reproductive interference'). In Habronattus jumping spiders, males frequently court heterospecifics with whom they do not mate or hybridize; females are larger and are voracious predators, posing a severe risk to males who court indiscriminately. In this study, we examined patterns of misdirected courtship in a natural community of four sympatric Habronattus species (H. clypeatus, H. hallani, H. hirsutus, and H. pyrrithrix). We used direct field observations to weigh support for two hypotheses (differential microhabitat use and species recognition signaling) to explain how these species reduce the costs associated wit...
2013
Abstract Web-building spiders are important models for sexual selection. While our understanding of post-copulatory mechanisms including sperm competition and cryptic female choice is considerable, our knowledge of courtship and how it influences male and female mating decisions is still extremely poor. Here, we provide the first comprehensive description of male courtship behaviour and vibrations generated in the web by the orb-web spider, Argiope keyserlingi–a recognised model species.
Cross-modal integration of multimodal courtship signals in a wolf spider
Animal Cognition, 2016
Cross-modal integration, i.e., cognitive binding of information transmitted in more than one signal mode, is important in animal communication, especially in complex, noisy environments in which signals of many individuals may overlap. Males of the brush-legged wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata (Hentz) use multimodal communication (visual and vibratory signals) in courtship. Because females may be courted by multiple males at the same time, they must evaluate co-occurring male signals originating from separate locations. Moreover, due to environmental complexity, individual components of male signals may be occluded, altering detection of sensory modes by females. We used digital multimodal playback to investigate the effect of spatial and temporal disparity of visual and vibratory components of male courtship signals on female mate choice. Females were presented with male courtship signals with components that varied in spatial location or temporal synchrony. Females responded to spatially disparate signal components separated by C90°as though they were separate sources, but responded to disparate signals separated by B45°as though they originated from a single source. Responses were seen as evidence for cross-modal integration. Temporal disparity (asynchrony) in signal modes also affected female receptivity. Females responded more to male signals when visual and vibratory modes were in synchrony than either out-of-synch or interleaved/alternated. These findings are consistent with those seen in both humans and other vertebrates and provide insight into how animals overcome communication challenges inherent in a complex environment.
Animal Behaviour, 1983
Our studies of a new spider species, Schizocosa rovneri (Uetz & Dondale), and its sibling species, S. ocreata (Hentz), provide an example of how sexual communication functions as a species isolating mechanism. Sexual communication by substratum-coupled stridulation proves to be a critical factor in the reproductive isolation of these species. In laboratory pairings, males of both species court conspecific and heterospecific females indiscriminately. However, females only respond receptively and copulate with conspecific males. A forced mating technique that employed anaesthetized females tested for interfertility. Heterospecific pairings of female S. rovneri with male S. ocreata and female S. ocreata with male S. rovneri resulted in the production of egg sacs and offspring in each case. We designed a series of experiments to isolate the various components of sexual comnmnication in S. rovneri. For the male S. rovneri, olfactory and/or tactile cues from the female's silk are sufficient to release courtship behaviour. For the female S. rovneri, substratum-coupled sound production (stridulation of the male pulps) is necessary and is by itself sufficient to induce receptive behaviour. Acoustic communication has been demonstrated in a large number of artlu'opods, including spiders (Busnel 1963; Sebeok 1977). Twentyseven families of spiders have species capable of producing sounds, and many probably use these sounds in communication with conspecifics (Weygoldt 1977; Uetz & Stratton 1982). Sound production in spiders is more common than is .generally realized, although in only a few mstances have researchers recorded spider sounds (Rovner 1967, 1975; Harrison t969; Gwinner-Hanke 1970; Buckle 1972; Stratton & Uetz 1981; Uetz & Stratton 1982). The present study provides one of the few experimental demonstrations of the biological significance of sound production in spiders. Rovner (1,975) found a substratum-coupled sound producing apparatus in wolf spiders (Family Lycosidae). A stridulatory organ occurs on the palps of the mature male spider, with the file and scraper on opposing segmental surfaces of the tibio-tarsal joint. Vibrations are produced when this joint is flexed repeatedly by rotations in an oscillatory fashion, while the palps are held in contact with the substrate (i.e. leaf litter). Rovner (1967) demonstrated by playback techniques the communicatory function of these sounds during courtship and agonistic display. Our study demonstrates that substratum-coupled stridulation is the critical component in the