Signalling and Sexual Conflict: Female Spiders Use Stridulation to Inform Males of Sexual Receptivity

Abstract

The use of acoustic signals by males during courtship and mating is well known. Nevertheless, their association with female unwillingness to mate is much less studied. In spiders, stridulation during sexual interactions is relatively common in some groups, but mainly restricted to males. In the pholcid spider Holocnemus pluchei, both sexes have stridulatory organs. The aims of the present work were (1) to establish whether female stridulation occurs during intra‐ and inter‐sexual interactions, (2) to determine whether female reproductive status affects the likelihood that she will stridulate and (3) to determine whether female stridulation is influenced by male sexual behaviour. We found that female stridulation usually occurs both during intrasexual interactions and, most frequently, during intersexual interactions. Females with more previous matings stridulated more frequently. Stridulation intensity was higher in females that did not accept new copulations compared with those that copulated. Female stridulation did not vary in elaborated and non‐elaborated courtship. Thus, females use stridulation to communicate levels of sexual receptivity. It is also possible that females use stridulation to indirectly assess male ability to persist and persuade.

Mating Is a Give-and-Take of Influence and Communication Between the Sexes

“…These females thus appear to give males an early indication of their forthcoming decision. An analogous notice has been observed for female stridulation in some pholcid spiders, including the above P. globosus, in which females stridulate when an encounter is less likely to lead to copulation (Peretti et al 2006;Dutto et al 2011). I suspect that this type of feedback, before and during copulation, may turn out to be widespread (see e.g., Baena and Eberhard 2007).…”

Copulatory and Post-copulatory Sexual Selection in Haplogyne Spiders, with Emphasis on Pholcidae and Oonopidae

“…In contrast, his observations of female stridulatory behavior suggest a defensive or even aggressive function, because females that readily accepted the male never rub their pedipalps against the chelicerae, while females that seemed less sexually receptive often rub the pedipalps against the chelicerae (Huber 1995). In H. pluchei, female stridulation occurs during courtship but never during copulation (Dutto et al 2011;Huber 1995). Therefore, stridulation by females conveys a negative message both in intrasexual and in intersexual contexts (Dutto et al 2011).…”

“…In H. pluchei, female stridulation occurs during courtship but never during copulation (Dutto et al 2011;Huber 1995). Therefore, stridulation by females conveys a negative message both in intrasexual and in intersexual contexts (Dutto et al 2011). The strength of the "negative" message seems to be defined by the intensity of stridulation.…”

“…This second advantage could explain the paradoxical signals of non-receptivity produced by virgin females that eventually mated. For a male, recognizing the female signals of lack of receptivity could be advantageous if he avoids wasting time and risking injury or predation in fruitless attempts to induce receptivity in a non-receptive female (Dutto et al 2011).…”

Consistency of females’ stridulatory behaviour during inter‐sexual interactions in spiders

“…For example, Dutto et al (2011) showed that once-mated females of H. pluchei altered their stridulatory behaviour based on male courtship tactics. For example, Dutto et al (2011) showed that once-mated females of H. pluchei altered their stridulatory behaviour based on male courtship tactics.…”