Spiders are widely studied for their courtship and mating behaviors. Precisely when it comes to the neurological, sex, and physical bodily aspects, this paper will focus on identifying and commenting on the signals transmitted between female and males spiders (neurological aspect) as well as the physical “dances” between the two before copulation (sex and body). The format of the paper will first look into why spider courtship is so dangerous for males, moving on to how male spiders avoid predation while getting the attention of female spiders via neurological pathways and wrapping up with how they display complex courtship dances physically.
To begin, spiders’ courtship and mating behaviors are interesting to study due to their risk. Males can easily become ambushed prey due to female spiders’ quick attacks. They could risk getting injured or killed in the process. Therefore, each sexually motivated approach needs to be meticulously planned. Due to sexual selection and natural selection, spiders’ courtship behaviors have evolved. They include the quality where spiders use physical and neurological pathways to communicate each other’s presence, identity, and motivations. Through these aspects, female spiders can evaluate the quality of the potential mate, which can help prevent pre-copulation cannibalism. Spiders mainly communicate using the information as mentioned earlier through several sensory channels, such as vibrations. (Herberstein ME, Wignall AE, Hebets EA, Schneider JM, 2014).
You may wonder how exactly male spiders will defend themselves or even notify the female spiders of their presence while they are in the female’s web? Well, interestingly, spiders use distinctive courtship vibrations in the form of shudders to change the neural pathways that regulate predatory behavior. Shudder vibrations not only delay the female spider from attacking, but it also serves as a signal of what type of species the male spider is and his current mating status. Female spiders have very poor vision but very acute senses. Hence, it is incredibly important that male spiders perform quick and energetic shudders within seconds of entering the female spider’s web. At this time, this would be considered the riskiest part of the courtship. The speed of the shudders and female aggression are directly correlated. Male spiders who demonstrated poorly in shudders are at higher risk of cannibalism by the female spider. It is important to note that while shudder vibrations delay/postpone predatory attacks, it does not one hundred percent prevent them. Regardless, shudder vibrations and delay in female predatory behavior could result from biological reasons/evolution since the male spider would have more time to reach the central region of the web where the female is. When he arrives at the hub, he can send more signals and cues to the female to announce his presence. Higher rate of shudder speed before arriving at the central region compared to lower speed after arriving at the region. But over-reliance on vibrations as a way to regulate predatory behavior may result in a lack of diversification of male courtship vibrations.(Wignall AE, Herberstein ME., 2013).
The actual stages of physical spider dances before copulation consists of a series of back-and-forth movements between the male and female wolf spiders. The male courtship behavior consists of four aspects: chemoexploration, palpal drumming, extended leg tap, and push-ups. The male spider exhibits chemoexploration when he is walking around the area that comes slightly in contact with the female silk of the web. He rubs his body on the exterior of the web before quickly lifting and lowering his palps. You can think of this as beating a drum with drumsticks. The main reason behind this behavior is to detect female pheromones to ensure a female is nearby. Now comes the part where the male spider extends the left or right leg at the rate of several taps per second. The final finale would be turning his body towards the female and lifting his entire weight onto the tip of his legs. Moving along to the distinct female behaviors observed during copulation: double leg tap and approach. The female lifts her leg or right leg and slowly approaches the male wolf spider from the side or back, depending on the location. Usually, the male is in a stationary position. After a while of orienting herself, the female places her body directly in front of the courting male spider in a pre-copulatory position. (Hebets, Eileen A., et al., 1996).
In conclusion, the major themes and key takeaways are that male spiders have complex courtship dances and that they learn dances by observing other successful male spiders. Their displays are geared towards getting the attention of female spiders while avoiding predation. The main component of their display is to diminish or decrease the predatory behavior in females. The story between the male and the female spider could be described as a dangerous affair and further emphasizes that if an animal wants to survive and pass on their genes, it would have to overcome and adapt to obstacles or risks. In the case of wolf spiders, male and female spiders co-evolve evolutionarily.
References/Citations:
- Herberstein ME, Wignall AE, Hebets EA, Schneider JM. Dangerous mating systems: signal complexity, signal content and neural capacity in spiders. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2014 Oct;46 Pt 4:509-18. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.07.018. Epub 2014 Aug 1. PMID: 25088579.
- Wignall AE, Herberstein ME. Male courtship vibrations delay predatory behavior in female spiders. Sci Rep. 2013 Dec 19;3:3557. doi: 10.1038/srep03557. PMID: 24356181; PMCID: PMC3867958.
- Hebets, Eileen A., et al. “Habitat and Courtship Behavior of the Wolf Spider Schizocosa Retrorsa (Banks) (Araneae, Lycosidae).” The Journal of Arachnology, vol. 24, no. 2, 1996, pp. 141–47. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3705948. Accessed 30 Sep. 2022.