Chapter 4 Acoustic Communication and Reproductive Isolation in Spiders

Female responses to isolated signals from multimodal male courtship displays in the wolf spider genusSchizocosa(Araneae: Lycosidae)

“…In these potentially cannibalistic species, such as some spiders, the efficacy of courtship signals is presumed to be subject to high selection pressures, thus making spiders ideal organisms for studies of sexual selection. The importance of specific species recognition signals in spider courtship displays has been demonstrated by several studies (Stratton & Uetz 1981, 1983, 1986Uetz & Stratton 1982), while others have shown the importance of female choice (Jackson 1977;Watson 1991Watson , 1993Clark & Uetz 1992;Scheffer et al 1996;McClintock & Uetz 1996). However, the selective pressures acting upon the evolution of these signals are not necessarily mutually exclusive.…”

The stridulatory setae of Acanthoscurria suina (Araneae, Theraphosidae) and their possible role in sexual communication: an experimental approach

“…In general, two functions were proposed for spider stridulation: defense and sexual communication (LEGENDRE, 1963;UETZ & STRATTON, 1982). The function of called stridulatory setae was tested for few species of theraphosids as involved in sound production.…”

“…As in insects, these organs consist of two opposite surfaces which rub one against the other, which are located in several parts of body of the spider (UETZ & STRATTON, 1982). LEGENDRE (1963) attributed to Westring (1843) the first description of a feature with such probable function in Theridiidae, but the first audible sound was reported for spider by WOOD-MASON (1876) for the Indian theraphosid Chilobrachys stridulans (Wood-Mason, 1875).…”

“…LEGENDRE (1963) attributed to Westring (1843) the first description of a feature with such probable function in Theridiidae, but the first audible sound was reported for spider by WOOD-MASON (1876) for the Indian theraphosid Chilobrachys stridulans (Wood-Mason, 1875). Up to now, several features were described and classified in tarantulas as stridulatory organs (for revisions see CHRYSANTHUS, 1953;LEGENDRE, 1963;UETZ & STRATTON, 1982). In fact, these organs were widely used in the systematics of Theraphosidae (POCOCK, 1895(POCOCK, a, b, 1897(POCOCK, , 1899SIMON, 1903;PÉREZ-MILES et al, 1996;SCHMIDT, 1999SCHMIDT, , 2000.…”

“…The tarantulas present high diversity of such features among the spiders, but the evidence of sound or signal production of this organs is very scarce, as well as its role in communication (but see MARSHALL et al, 1995). As far as we know, two hypothetical functions of the signals were proposed for spiders: 1) in defensive behavior and 2) in sexual communication (LEGENDRE, 1963;UETZ & STRATTON, 1982;MARSHALL et al, 1995).…”