Dangerous mating systems: Signal complexity, signal content and neural capacity in spiders

Herberstein, Marie E.; Wignall, Anne E.; Hebets, Eileen A.; Schneider, Jutta M.

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.07.018

Cited by 39 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 97 publications

(134 reference statements)

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“…Many spider species, and jumping spiders in particular, have complex courtship displays consisting of multiple components and often multiple signaling modalities—complexity that may be related to the simultaneous challenges of maintaining female attention while reducing female aggression [47]. These courtships often involve rapid leg movements and elaborate acoustic signals produced by specialized stridulatory structures [5].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Airborne Acoustic Perception by a Jumping Spider

et al. 2016

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Summary Jumping spiders (Salticidae) are famous for their visually driven behaviors [1]. Here, however, we present behavioral and neurophysiological evidence that these animals also perceive and respond to airborne acoustic stimuli, even when the distance between the animal and the sound source is relatively large (~3 m) and with stimulus amplitudes at the position of the spider of ~65 dB SPL. Behavioral experiments with the jumping spider Phidippus audax reveal that these animals respond to low frequency sounds (80 Hz; 65 dB SPL) by freezing—a common anti-predatory behavior characteristic of an acoustic startle response. Neurophysiological recordings from auditory-sensitive neural units in the brains of these jumping spiders showed responses to low-frequency tones (80 Hz at ~65 dB SPL); recordings that also represent the first record of acoustically-responsive neural units in the jumping spider brain. Responses persisted even when the distances between spider and stimulus source exceeded 3 m and under anechoic conditions. Thus, these spiders appear able to detect airborne sound at distances in the acoustic far-field region, beyond the near-field range often thought to bound acoustic perception in arthropods that lack tympanic ears (e.g. spiders) [2]. Further, direct mechanical stimulation of hairs on the patella of the foreleg was sufficient to generate responses in neural units that also responded to airborne acoustic stimuli—evidence that these hairs likely play a role in the detection of acoustic cues. We suggest that these auditory responses enable the detection of predators and facilitate an acoustic startle response.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Airborne Acoustic Perception by a Jumping Spider

et al. 2016

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“…Spiders from both families possess enlarged eyes used in foraging and mating contexts [5][6][7][8][9][10]. In stark contrast with their ground-dwelling relatives, an enhanced visual system is rare in web-building spiders, which tend to rely more on vibrational cues in their web for foraging and mating [4,11,12]. Indeed, while enhanced visual systems are uncommon across the 114 currently described families of spider [13], they are almost unheard of among web-building spiders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nocturnal foraging enhanced by enlarged secondary eyes in a net-casting spider

Stafstrom¹,

Hebets²

2016

Biol. Lett.

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Animals that possess extreme sensory structures are predicted to have a related extreme behavioural function. This study focuses on one such extreme sensory structure-the posterior median eyes of the net-casting spider Deinopis spinosa. Although past research has implicated the importance of vision in the nocturnal foraging habits of Deinopis, no direct link between vision in the enlarged eyes and nocturnal foraging has yet been made. To directly test the hypothesis that the enlarged posterior median eyes facilitate visually based nocturnal prey capture, we conducted repeated-measures, visual occlusion trials in both natural and laboratory settings. Our results indicate that D. spinosa relies heavily on visual cues detected by the posterior median eyes to capture cursorial prey items. We suggest that the enlarged posterior median eyes benefit D. spinosa not only through increased diet breadth, but also by allowing spiders to remain active solely at night, thus evading predation by diurnal animals.

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“…Mate approach and courtship can be dangerous since spiders are generally cannibalistic (Elgar and Schneider 2004). Many wolf and jumping spiders are known to use multimodal displays, mostly combinations of visual signaling and vibrations (Hebets and Papaj 2005;Herberstein et al 2014;Uhl and Elias 2011). In web spiders, males mostly use vibratory signals on the web and/or chemical signals to reveal their identity and suppress an aggressive response from the female (Becker et al 2005;Wignall and Herberstein 2013).…”

Section: Mating Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in spiders: from phenotype to genomics

et al. 2020

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Sexual reproduction is pervasive in animals and has led to the evolution of sexual dimorphism. In most animals, males and females show marked differences in primary and secondary sexual traits. The formation of sex-specific organs and eventually sex-specific behaviors is defined during the development of an organism. Sex determination processes have been extensively studied in a few well-established model organisms. While some key molecular regulators are conserved across animals, the initiation of sex determination is highly diverse. To reveal the mechanisms underlying the development of sexual dimorphism and to identify the evolutionary forces driving the evolution of different sexes, sex determination mechanisms must thus be studied in detail in many different animal species beyond the typical model systems. In this perspective article, we argue that spiders represent an excellent group of animals in which to study sex determination mechanisms. We show that spiders are sexually dimorphic in various morphological, behavioral, and life history traits. The availability of an increasing number of genomic and transcriptomic resources and functional tools provides a great starting point to scrutinize the extensive sexual dimorphism present in spiders on a mechanistic level. We provide an overview of the current knowledge of sex determination in spiders and propose approaches to reveal the molecular and genetic underpinnings of sexual dimorphism in these exciting animals.

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Dangerous mating systems: Signal complexity, signal content and neural capacity in spiders

Cited by 39 publications

References 97 publications

Airborne Acoustic Perception by a Jumping Spider

Airborne Acoustic Perception by a Jumping Spider

Nocturnal foraging enhanced by enlarged secondary eyes in a net-casting spider

Sex differences in spiders: from phenotype to genomics

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