Female body size, fecundity parameters and foundation of new colonies in Anelosimus jabaquara (Araneae, Theridiidae)

Abstract

As in other social spider species, subadult Anelosimus jabaquara females found new colonies after solitary dispersal. Some individuals, however, usually remain and reproduce in their natal nests. To test the hypothesis that large females disperse more often than smaller ones, we compared the body size of A. jabaquara females that remained in their natal colonies with those that left to build solitary webs. We also compared clutch size, egg diameter, total egg volume and spiderling size in both conditions. Emigrating females were significantly larger and laid larger clutches. The smaller females that had not dispersed laid significantly larger eggs, although their total egg volume was lower. Spiderlings of solitary females were smaller and had a smaller range of size variation than those from colonies. We discuss the implications of these results in terms of costs and benefits of dispersion for spiders in different nutritional conditions.

Subsocial spiders in space and time: A fine scale approach to the dynamics of dispersal

“…Dispersal web formation occurred during the first half of the season (~40 days). Such a broad dispersal initiation period could be due to differences in maturation time of individuals and/or different physiological state: both hypotheses have been explored in other group living spiders (Bodasing, Crouch, & Slotow, ; Gonzaga & Vasconcellos‐Neto, ; Li & Kuan, ; Powers & Avilés, ; Ruttan, ; Schneider & Bilde, ). Time of dispersal can have important implications over life history of individuals.…”

“…Dispersal has been described as condition dependent (Bowler & Benton, ). The capacity of an individual to leave its natal nest has been related to two opposite hypotheses: (i) lack of resources (Kim, ; Li & Kuan, ; Mestre & Lubin, ) and (ii) being in better condition to disperse (Bonte et al., ; Gonzaga & Vasconcellos‐Neto, ). Besides being a response to resource availability, these dispersal events also correspond to the first half of the mating season, thus dispersal is expected to accomplish a reproductive function.…”

“…Dispersal web formation occurred during the first half of the season (~40 days). Such a broad dispersal initiation period could be due to differences in maturation time of individuals and/or different physiological state: both hypotheses have been explored in other group living spiders (Bodasing, Crouch, & Slotow, 2002;Gonzaga & Vasconcellos-Neto, 2001;Li & Kuan, 2006;Powers & Avilés, 2003;Ruttan, 1990;Schneider & Bilde, 2008 shape and constrain short-and long-distance dispersal (Bonte, 2009;Bowler & Benton, 2005). Decreasing number of surviving spiders in dispersal webs, asynchronous maturation and seasonality states reduce the amount of opportunities for mating and the possibility for successful reproduction (Bonte, De Clercq, Zwertvaegher, & Lens, 2009;Suiter & Gould, 1992).…”

“…Most studies only consider a few dispersal movements within a short survey period, or the survival effects at different times for individuals with different dispersal distances. Immediate effects of the dispersal in terms of both energy costs and mating success have only been inferred indirectly (Avilés & Gelsey, 1998;Gonzaga & Vasconcellos-Neto, 2001;Lubin, Hennicke, & Schneider, 1998;Purcell, Vasconcellos-Neto, Gonzaga, Fletcher, & Avilés, 2012). The frequency at which males and females move once out of the maternal web is not known.…”

Life‐history trait variation in a queen‐size dimorphic ant

“…Alternatively, commonly occurring smaller ('sneaker') males seek reproductive opportunities alongside large, dominant and territorially behaving males (Eberhard, 1980;Thornhill & Alcock, 1983;Gross, 1985;Crespi, 1988;Danforth, 1991). Size-dependent strategies also can be connected to dispersal (Dingle et al, 1980;Derr et al, 1981;Gonzaga & Vasconcellos-Neto, 2001), whereby smaller individuals are usually assumed to be competitively inferior and thus disperse, whereas larger ones behave philopatrically (Lawrence, 1987;Hanski et al, 1991). Nevertheless, this also can be reversed so that larger individuals disperse further than smaller conspecifics due to larger energy reserves (Anholt, 1990;O'Riain et al, 1996;Léna et al, 1998;Gundersen et al, 2002;Barbraud et al, 2003).…”