No Appeasement Through Vibrations: Male Vibratory Pre‐Copulatory Courtship in the Cursorial Spider Pisaura mirabilis Does Not Affect Female Predatory Response
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Male courtship can serve various purposes such as species recognition, mate localization, or advertisement of individual quality and physical condition. In predatory species, courtship activity by the male might also reduce the risk of being predated on by the female. Substrate vibrations, which are often used for communication during pre‐copulatory courtship in many arthropods, might be important in this context. Indeed, in some orb‐web spiders, male pre‐copulatory vibratory courtship delays female predatory behavior, protecting males from female attack as they approach the female in the web. Pisaura mirabilis is a cursorial spider that does not build a web, but males produce substrate‐borne vibratory courtship when they encounter female dragline silk. This raises the question of whether male vibratory courtship similarly delays predatory behavior in female P. mirabilis . We investigated whether male vibratory courtship signals delay female predatory response. We tested our hypothesis by playing back male vibratory courtship, white noise pulses, or a silent control, while simultaneously exposing prey to females ( N = 52). We found no delay of female predatory response to prey, nor other differences in female predatory behavior between treatments. We conclude that male vibratory courtship in P. mirabilis probably does not serve to reduce female aggression towards courting males.
Source: Ethology
DOI: 10.1111/eth.70042
Authors: Stefan ter Haar, Gabriele B. Uhl, Monika J. B. Eberhard
Institutions: Universität Greifswald, Universität Hamburg
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,650
Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
OpenAlex ID: W4417311112