Sexual cannibalism in the European garden spider Araneus diadematus: the roles of female hunger and mate size dimorphism
Section snippets
General Protocol
Juveniles and subadults of A. diadematus were collected in June and July 2005 from their orb webs in gardens and in hedges around meadows in a rural area of northern Germany (Tornesch, Schleswig-Holstein; 53°41′17N, 9°43′58E). Spiders were housed individually in 200 ml transparent plastic cups in our laboratory at the University of Hamburg. Small juveniles were fed a diet of Drosophila twice a week and larger juveniles and adult spiders were fed two or three Calliphora flies twice a week. Adult
Preinsemination Attacks
The frequency of female attacks prior to copulation was 42.9% (76/177 cases). Female age, encounter number, male mass, male size and male age did not significantly affect the attack probability (Table 2). However, female mating status, female/male size ratio, male mating status and female feeding status had significant (additive) effects on the likelihood of attack. Starved females were more likely than fed females to attack a male and mated females attacked more often than virgins (Fig. 1a, b
Discussion
Our experiments confirmed that both satiation and mating status affected female aggressiveness in the direction predicted by the AFF hypothesis (Newman & Elgar 1991): males were most likely to be attacked by a starved and mated female. However, contrary to the prediction of the AFF hypothesis, the presumed trade-off between foraging and mating was not mediated by a higher capture success prior to mating in comparison to after mating. On the contrary, we found that preinsemination capture
Acknowledgments
We are very grateful to Mark Briffa, Matthias W. Foellmer, Lutz Fromhage and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on the manuscript.
References (45)
Causes of assortative mating in arthropods
Animal Behaviour
(1989)- et al.
Sexual cannibalism in the garden spider Araneus diadematus
Animal Behaviour
(1988) - et al.
The evolutionary significance of sexual cannibalism
Advances in the Study of Behavior
(2004) - et al.
Size-assortative mating, male choice and female choice in the curculionid beetle Diaprepes abbreviatus
Animal Behaviour
(1999) Male mate choice and size-assortative pairing in a jumping spider, Phidippus clarus
Animal Behaviour
(2007)Sexual cannibalism in fishing spiders (Dolomedes triton): an evaluation of two explanations for female aggression towards potential mates
Animal Behaviour
(2001)Lifetime mating opportunities and male mating behaviour in sexually cannibalistic praying mantids
Animal Behaviour
(1998)- et al.
Mating patterns in late-maturing female Mediterranean tarantulas may reflect the costs and benefits of sexual cannibalism
Animal Behaviour
(2003) Sexual selection and sexual conflict
- et al.
Sexual cannibalism and mate choice decisions in wolf spiders: influence of male size and secondary sexual characters
Animal Behaviour
(2005)
Sexual cannibalism and mate choice
Animal Behaviour
Sexual conflict over copulation duration in a cannibalistic spider
Animal Behaviour
Sexual size dimorphism mediates the occurrence of state-dependent sexual cannibalism in a wolf spider
Animal Behaviour
Sexual selection for male sacrifice in the Australian redback spider
Science
Female hunger can explain variation in cannibalistic behavior despite male sacrifice in redback spiders
Behavioral Ecology
Courtship behavior and sexual cannibalism in the semi-aquatic fishing spider, Dolomedes fimbriatus (Clerck) (Araneae: Pisauridae)
Journal of Arachnology
Sexual cannibalism in the fishing spider and a model for the evolution of sexual cannibalism based on genetic constraints
Evolutionary Ecology
Female praying mantids use sexual cannibalism as a foraging strategy to increase fecundity
Behavioral Ecology
lme4: Linear Mixed-effects Models using S4 classes. R package version 0.999375-31
Unexpected male choosiness for mates in a spider
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Sexual cannibalism in the praying mantis Hierodula membranacea
Behaviour
The natural selection of sexual cannibalism
American Naturalist
Cited by (29)
The multifaceted effects of starvation on arthropod behaviour
2016, Animal BehaviourCitation Excerpt :In some arthropod species sexual encounters may end with the female preying on the male. Such sexual cannibalism is common after mating but also occurs before mating (Berning et al., 2012; Roggenbuck, Pekár, & Schneider, 2011; Wu, Zhang, He, Liu, & Peng, 2013). The main causes of sexual cannibalism are debated, and there is probably no universal answer (Barry, Holwell, & Herberstein, 2008; Wilder et al., 2009).
Dangerous mating systems: Signal complexity, signal content and neural capacity in spiders
2014, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :The early stages of approach are the riskiest for any male spider but are particularly so for web-building spiders as the female may mistake him for prey entering her trap. The occurrence of such pre-copulatory cannibalism varies greatly amongst species (e.g. Araneus, Roggenbuck et al., 2011; Argiope, Herberstein et al., 2002; Zimmer et al., 2012) and it is often difficult to discern the effects of mate rejection from mistaken identity (Wilder and Rypstra, 2008). It is logical to hypothesize however that males communicate information that inhibits attack to females (e.g. identity or intent) at these early stages.
Male vulnerability explains the occurrence of sexual cannibalism in a moderately sexually dimorphic wolf spider
2014, Behavioural ProcessesCitation Excerpt :During development, more aggressive females would attain larger sizes and better condition, increasing both their fitness and their likelihood of attacking males (Johnson and Sih, 2005). Support to this hypothesis is controversial (Kralj-Fiser et al., 2012) and evidences do not always discriminate between female aggressiveness (a proximate cause) and sexual cannibalism (an effect) ((Kralj-Fišer et al., 2013) Our results do not support the idea that body size confers direct competitive advantages to females because of their higher foraging vigour or physical ability to restrain males (Roggenbuck et al., 2011). On the contrary, we found support to the view that female behaviour is flexibly adjusted in relation to the context.
Sexual cannibalism is associated with female behavioural type, hunger state and increased hatching success
2012, Animal BehaviourCitation Excerpt :Thus, our findings support both the aggressive spillover and adaptive foraging hypotheses. Evidence for the aggressive spillover and adaptive foraging hypotheses have been found in multiple arthropod species: aggressive spillover hypothesis (Dolomedes sp.: Arnqvist & Henriksson 1997; Agelenopsis aperta: Riechert et al. 2001; Dolomedes triton: Johnson & Sih 2005; Anelosimus studiosus: Pruitt & Riechert 2009), adaptive foraging hypothesis (mantids: Birkhead et al. 1988; Latrodectus hesperus: Johnson et al. 2011; Araneus diadematus: Roggenbuck et al. 2011; Argiope bruennichi: Welke & Schneider 2012). However, our findings represent some of the first showing both mechanisms acting in unison.
- 1
S. Pekár is at the Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic.