Work

Can a Tiny Brain Plan? Reconstructing a Predatory Detour in the Jumping Spider Portia labiata

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Planning is the process of evaluating alternative futures to predict outcomes and guide action. Evidence for this process exists in several vertebrates, but remains contested in in-vertebrates. Jumping spiders in the genus Portia show planning-like behavior in lab studies, but how this translates to the wild is unclear, where hunts of potentially lethal spider prey occur over durations of more than an hour in dense foliage. We present the first fully video-recorded wild hunt of any Portia species, with a 3D reconstruction of its forty-two minute long route to attack an orb-weaving spider. The reconstruction suggests P. labiata may have planned its approach, avoiding a route half as long but potentially more conspicuous to the prey's sensory systems.

Source: bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

DOI: 10.64898/2026.11.04.763773

Authors: Finn J Petrie, Min Tan, Chen Li, Ximena J Nelson, Daiqin Li, Malcolm A MacIver

Institutions: Northwestern University, National University of Singapore, Johns Hopkins University, University of Canterbury, Hubei University

Language: English

Topic: Spider Taxonomy and Behavior Studies

Subfield: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7225427314

Cites: 13

Cited by:

Related to: 10