Mate binding: male adaptation to sexual conflict in the golden orb-web spider (Nephilidae: Nephila pilipes)

2011 ◽  
Vol 82 (6) ◽  
pp. 1299-1304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shichang Zhang ◽  
Matjaž Kuntner ◽  
Daiqin Li
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web

scholarly journals Remote copulation: male adaptation to female cannibalism

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 512-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiqin Li ◽  
Joelyn Oh ◽  
Simona Kralj-Fišer ◽  
Matjaž Kuntner
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Sperm Transfer ◽  
Copulation Duration ◽  
Sexual Cannibalism ◽  
Empirical Testing ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Maladaptive Behaviour ◽  
Orb Web ◽  
Male Organ

Sexual cannibalism by females and associated male behaviours may be driven by sexual conflict. One such male behaviour is the eunuch phenomenon in spiders, caused by total genital emasculation, which is a seemingly maladaptive behaviour. Here, we provide the first empirical testing of an adaptive hypothesis to explain this behaviour, the remote copulation, in a highly sexually cannibalistic orb-web spider Nephilengys malabarensis . We demonstrate that sperm transfer continues from the severed male organ into female genitals after the male has been detached from copula. Remote copulation increases the total amount of sperm transferred, and thus probably enhances paternity. We conclude that the mechanism may have evolved in response to sexual cannibalism and female-controlled short copulation duration.

Does personality explain variation in the probability of sexual cannibalism in the orb-web spider Argiope aurantia?

Behaviour ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 150 (14) ◽  
pp. 1731-1746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias W. Foellmer ◽  
Kapil K. Khadka
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Sexual Cannibalism ◽  
Bet Hedging ◽  
Species Identity ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Argiope Aurantia ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Orb Web

Sexual cannibalism is often hypothesized to be an extreme manifestation of sexual conflict, yet we still lack a good understanding of the underlying motivation in most species. Hypotheses for the ultimate causes of sexual cannibalism either invoke the behavior as adaptive or mal-adaptive. Adaptive hypotheses consider foraging decisions, mate choice or genetic bet-hedging. Mal-adaptive hypotheses propose that sexual cannibalism is the result of mistaken species identity or the by-product of an aggression syndrome. Here, we test the latter hypothesis, that sexual cannibalism is the result of an aggression syndrome. This hypothesis states that aggressive behavior is favored in the foraging context because females benefit from achieving a large size quickly through an increase in fecundity, and it predicts that individuals that are aggressive foragers are more likely to attack a male and hence are at risk of receiving no or insufficient quantities of sperm. Few tests of this hypothesis are available to date, and only one involved a species with sexual cannibalism occurring after at least some sperm transfer. We test the hypothesis in Argiope aurantia, a species in which females frequently attack males during copulation. We estimated aggressiveness in the foraging context in penultimate and adults females and staged matings using the same females to evaluate whether aggressiveness during the foraging context predicts the likelihood of sexual cannibalism. Indeed, we find that aggressive foragers are more likely to attack their mates, but we conclude that other, possibly adaptive reasons for cannibalism exist as much of the uncertainty in cannibalism occurrence remained unexplained.

scholarly journals Direct and indirect bottom-up and top-down forces shape the abundance of the orb-web spider Argiope bruennichi

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 706-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odile T. Bruggisser ◽  
Nadine Sandau ◽  
Gilles Blandenier ◽  
Yvonne Fabian ◽  
Patrik Kehrli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web

scholarly journals Field observation on predation of an orb web spider (Araneae: Araneidae) by the corinnid sac spider, Corinnomma severum (Araneae: Corinnidae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-76
Author(s):  
Yuya Suzuki ◽  
Booppa Petcharad ◽  
Thanakorn Into ◽  
Akio Tanikawa
Keyword(s):  
Field Observation ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web

scholarly journals Reeling in the prey: fishing behaviour in an orb web spider

2019 ◽  
Vol 222 (24) ◽  
pp. jeb213751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinesh Rao ◽  
Horacio Tapia-McClung ◽  
Ajay Narendra
Keyword(s):  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web

Dragline-associated behaviour of the orb web spider Nephila clavipes (Araneoidea, Tetragnathidae)

1998 ◽  
Vol 244 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. G. Barth ◽  
S. N. Gorb ◽  
M. A. Landolfa
Keyword(s):  
Nephila Clavipes ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web

scholarly journals Method for rearing the orb-web spider Cyclosa argenteoalba

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-81
Author(s):  
Yusuke Shigemiya ◽  
Kensuke Nakata
Keyword(s):  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web
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