Xiao Yong-Hong, Zunic-Kosi Alenka, Zhang Long-Wa, Prentice Thomas R, McElfresh J Steven, Chinta Satya P, Zou Yun-Fan, Millar Jocelyn G
College of Life Sciences, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, Jiangxi, 343009, China.
Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA.
Insect Sci. 2015 Dec;22(6):840-52. doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.12243. Epub 2015 Sep 2.
Males of many spider species risk being attacked and cannibalized while searching for, courting, and mating with conspecific females. However, there are exceptions. We show that the funnel-web spider, Hololena curta, has 3 adaptations that minimize risk to males during courtship and mating, and enhance reproductive success. First, males detected chemical or tactile signals associated with webs of virgin females, and differentiated them from webs of mated females, enabling males to increase encounter rates with virgin females and avoid aggressive mated females. Second, males produced stereotyped vibrational signals during courting which induced female quiescence and suppressed female aggression. Third, when touched by males, sexually receptive females entered a cataleptic state, allowing males to safely approach and copulate. Because males can mate multiple times and the sex ratio in natural populations of H. curta is female biased, overall reproductive output is likely increased by males of this species avoiding sexual cannibalism.
许多蜘蛛物种的雄性在寻找、求偶和与同种雌性交配时，都面临被攻击和被同类相食的风险。然而，也有例外情况。我们发现，漏斗网蜘蛛（Hololena curta）有三种适应性特征，可在求偶和交配过程中将雄性面临的风险降至最低，并提高繁殖成功率。首先，雄性能够检测到与未交配雌性蛛网相关的化学或触觉信号，并将它们与已交配雌性的蛛网区分开来，这使雄性能够增加与未交配雌性的相遇率，并避开具有攻击性的已交配雌性。其次，雄性在求偶时会产生固定模式的振动信号，这种信号会使雌性安静下来，并抑制雌性的攻击性。第三，当受到雄性触碰时，处于性接受期的雌性会进入僵住状态，从而使雄性能够安全地接近并进行交配。由于雄性可以多次交配，且漏斗网蜘蛛自然种群中的性别比例偏向雌性，因此该物种的雄性避免性食同类行为可能会提高整体繁殖产出。
