Sexual selection, male morphology, and the efficacy of courtship signalling in two wolf spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Scheffer, Sonja J.; Uetz, George W.; Stratton, Gail E.

doi:10.1007/s002650050212

Cited by 153 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…It is apparently the combination of tufts and foreleg tapping that attracts predator attention. This supports earlier hypotheses that decorative tufts on the forelegs of S. ocreata function as amplifiers or attention signals (Hasson, 1991(Hasson, , 1997 increasing the efficacy of the leg-tapping display (McClintock and Uetz, 1996;Scheffer et al, 1996;Hebets and Uetz, 2000). Hebets and Uetz (2000) found a correlation between the presence of decorations and pigmentation on the forelegs of Schizocosa species males and the level of visual display they exhibited.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Scheffer et al (1996) found that in the absence of vibratory cues in courtship, the presence of tufts on courting male S. ocreata significantly increased female receptivity. The size of male tufts, in both live males (McClintock and Uetz, 1996) and video playback experiments (Uetz, 2000), may also influence female receptivity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…differ in structure and effectiveness in transmitting visual or vibratory cues in courtship and may also influence signaling (Uetz, 1991;Scheffer et al, 1996). For example, S. rovneri is often found in the flattened leaf litter of flood plains, which has been shown to transmit vibrations at greater distances than the complex leaf litter habitat of S. ocreata (Scheffer et al, 1996). It is possible that S. rovneri does not have a well-developed visual component to its courtship because that might increase predation risk in this relatively open microhabitat.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Females of this species exhibit receptivity with equal frequency to isolated visual and vibratory courtship signals from conspecific males (Scheffer et al, 1996). There is some evidence from studies with live males and video playback that female spiders prefer males with larger tufts when presented with only visual courtship cues (McClintock and Uetz, 1996;Uetz, 2000;Uetz and Roberts, 2002).…”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Assessment of Potential Predation Costs of Male Decoration and Courtship Display in Wolf Spiders Using Video Digitization and Playback

Pruden

Uetz

2004

Journal of Insect Behavior

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Assessment of Potential Predation Costs of Male Decoration and Courtship Display in Wolf Spiders Using Video Digitization and Playback

Pruden

Uetz

2004

Journal of Insect Behavior

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“…In the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, females change their mating decision in relation to the environmental conditions: in clear water, they rely more on visual than olfactory cues, but the pattern is reversed in turbid water (Heuschele et al, 2009). Similar patterns of flexible preferences for multi-component signals were also observed by Calkins and Burley (2003) in the Californian Quail, Callipepla californica, and in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata (Scheffer et al, 1996).…”

Section: Multiple Cues Multi-dimension Preference Functions and Mulsupporting

confidence: 63%

Computational mate choice: Theory and empirical evidence

Castellano

Cadeddu

Cermelli

2012

Behavioural Processes

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a b s t r a c tThe present review is based on the thesis that mate choice results from information-processing mechanisms governed by computational rules and that, to understand how females choose their mates, we should identify which are the sources of information and how they are used to make decisions. We describe mate choice as a three-step computational process and for each step we present theories and review empirical evidence. The first step is a perceptual process. It describes the acquisition of evidence, that is, how females use multiple cues and signals to assign an attractiveness value to prospective mates (the preference function hypothesis). The second step is a decisional process. It describes the construction of the decision variable (DV), which integrates evidence (private information by direct assessment), priors (public information), and value (perceived utility) of prospective mates into a quantity that is used by a decision rule (DR) to produce a choice. We make the assumption that females are optimal Bayesian decision makers and we derive a formal model of DV that can explain the effects of preference functions, mate copying, social context, and females' state and condition on the patterns of mate choice. The third step of mating decision is a deliberative process that depends on the DRs. We identify two main categories of DRs (absolute and comparative rules), and review the normative models of mate sampling tactics associated to them. We highlight the limits of the normative approach and present a class of computational models (sequential-sampling models) that are based on the assumption that DVs accumulate noisy evidence over time until a decision threshold is reached. These models force us to rethink the dichotomy between comparative and absolute decision rules, between discrimination and recognition, and even between rational and irrational choice. Since they have a robust biological basis, we think they may represent a useful theoretical tool for behavioural ecologist interested in integrating proximate and ultimate causes of mate choice.

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Choosing a mate in a high predation environment: Female preference in the fiddler crab Uca terpsichores

Perez

Christy

Backwell

2016

Ecology and Evolution

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The interplay between a receiver's sensory system and a sender's courtship signals is fundamental to the operation of sexual selection. Male courtship signals that match a female receiver's preexisting perceptual biases can be favored yet the message they communicate is not always clear. Do they simply beacon the male's location or also indicate his quality? We explored this question in a species of fiddler crab Uca terpsichores that courts under elevated predation risk and that mates and breeds underground in the safety of males' burrows. Sexually receptive females leave their own burrows and are thereby exposed to avian predators as they sequentially approach several courting males before they choose one. Males court by waving their single greatly enlarge claw and sometimes by building a sand hood next to their burrow entrance. Hoods are attractive because they elicit a risk‐reducing orientation behavior in females, and it has been suggested that claw waving may also serve primarily to orient the female to the male. If the wave communicates male quality, then females should discriminate mates on the basis of variation in elements of the wave, as has been shown for other fiddler crabs. Alternatively, variation in elements of the claw waving display may have little effect on the display's utility as a beacon of the location of the male and his burrow. We filmed courting males and females under natural conditions as females responded to claw waving and chose mates. Analysis of the fine‐scale courtship elements between the males that females rejected and those they chose revealed no differences. When predation risk during courtship is high, males' courtship displays may serve primarily to guide females to safe mating and breeding sites and not as indicators of male quality apart from their roles as beacons.

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Sexual selection, male morphology, and the efficacy of courtship signalling in two wolf spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Cited by 153 publications

References 24 publications

Assessment of Potential Predation Costs of Male Decoration and Courtship Display in Wolf Spiders Using Video Digitization and Playback

Assessment of Potential Predation Costs of Male Decoration and Courtship Display in Wolf Spiders Using Video Digitization and Playback

Computational mate choice: Theory and empirical evidence

Choosing a mate in a high predation environment: Female preference in the fiddler crab Uca terpsichores

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