10.5061/DRYAD.TB2RBP025
Scott, Catherine
0000-0003-0860-4805
University of Toronto
Sentenská, Lenka
University of Toronto
Mouginot, Pierick
University of Greifswald
Andrade, Maydianne
University of Toronto
Data for: Risky business: Males choose more receptive adults over safer
subadults in a cannibalistic spider
Dryad
dataset
2021
FOS: Biological sciences
2022-02-23T00:00:00Z
2022-02-23T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6244884
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6244894
11152 bytes
7
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Understanding factors affecting male mate choice can be important for
tracking the dynamics of sexual selection in nature. Contextual variation
in reproductive costs and benefits of different types of mates may predict
male choice, but mating may also be opportunistic regardless of female
reproductive value. Male brown widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus) can
mate with adult as well as immature (subadult) females. Matings with
adults require costly courtship and typically end with cannibalism
(‘self-sacrifice’ initiated by a male somersault), but matings with
subadults involve more brief courtship and no risk of cannibalism. We
examined whether there was evidence for male mate choice as a function of
risks associated with different types of mates and the cues available to
courting males. Previous studies showed male preference for adult females
based on airborne pheromones. In our study, males preferred adult females
based on silk-borne contact cues. We swapped adult and subadult females
between webs to determine which cues trigger different components of
courtship, and showed that contact with adult females’ webs triggers web
reduction and contact with adult females’ bodies triggers mate binding and
somersaulting, but vibratory courtship occurs regardless of the origin of
the web or female developmental stage. We conclude that males can detect
and recognize subadult females as potential mating partners, but are more
likely to invest in costly courtship behaviours and mating attempts with
adults. In our experiments, subadult females were less likely to mate than
adults. We conclude that mating with adults could be the preferred option
for males because of the higher likelihood of copulation, even at the cost
of a higher risk of cannibalism.
Data were collected in two laboratory experiments: 1) Male responses to
subadult vs. adult female silk cues in a Y-maze 2-choice experiment 2)
Outcomes of mating trials in which males courted subadult or adult females
placed on the webs of other females in a fully crossed design All analyses
were conducted in R version 4.0.0. See paper for full details of
experimental design and analysis.