DEAR EDITOR,We identified strict monandry in a wandering wolf spider species(Pardosa pseudoannulata) and revealed the underlying mechanisms of this mating structure. Evidence indicated that males damaged the inner wal...DEAR EDITOR,We identified strict monandry in a wandering wolf spider species(Pardosa pseudoannulata) and revealed the underlying mechanisms of this mating structure. Evidence indicated that males damaged the inner walls of the female genital tract with the sharp part of their intromittent organ during insemination. The traumatic mating caused hemolymph hemorrhage, which mixed with seminal fluid and gradually formed an impermeable amorphous mating plug after about15 days, completely blocking the female copulatory opening.展开更多
Autotomy,the self-induced loss of a body part,is one of the most extreme forms of defense against predation.It occurs in a variety of animal taxa,including both vertebrates and invertebrates(Fleming et al.2007).The mo...Autotomy,the self-induced loss of a body part,is one of the most extreme forms of defense against predation.It occurs in a variety of animal taxa,including both vertebrates and invertebrates(Fleming et al.2007).The most commonly seen examples are spiders,lizards,and crustaceans(Emberts et al.2019)(Fig.1).By performing the autotomy behavior,animals can effectively survive predation or non-predatory entrapment,or reduce the cost of injury(Emberts et al.2019;Wuthrich et al.2022).展开更多
Sexual conflict is common in animals,and female sexual cannibalism represents an extreme form of sexual conflict.Males in many species have evolved a variety of strategies to circumvent or decrease the risk of female ...Sexual conflict is common in animals,and female sexual cannibalism represents an extreme form of sexual conflict.Males in many species have evolved a variety of strategies to circumvent or decrease the risk of female sexual cannibalism.Opportunistic mating,by which a male mates with a female when she is disturbed or when she is feeding or undertaking moulting,is one of such kinds of strategies,and widely occurs in many animals,especially in spiders.However,whether the occurrence of male opportunistic mating depends on the intensity of female sexual cannibalism remains largely unexplored.We predicted a positive correlation between them.In this study,we tested this prediction by performing a series of mating trials in the laboratory using 3 species of web-building spiders with different intensities of female sexual cannibalism:Nephila pilipes,Nephilengys malabarensis,and Parasteatoda tepidariorum.We found that the occurrence of male opportunistic mating was positively,though not statistically significantly,correlated with the intensity of female sexual cannibalism,thus supporting our hypothesis.All together,we provide evidence that male opportunistic mating may have evolved to respond to the selection pressure posed by female sexual cannibalism.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31801979)State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents,Institute of Zoology,Chinese Academy of Sciences(IPM2208)。
文摘DEAR EDITOR,We identified strict monandry in a wandering wolf spider species(Pardosa pseudoannulata) and revealed the underlying mechanisms of this mating structure. Evidence indicated that males damaged the inner walls of the female genital tract with the sharp part of their intromittent organ during insemination. The traumatic mating caused hemolymph hemorrhage, which mixed with seminal fluid and gradually formed an impermeable amorphous mating plug after about15 days, completely blocking the female copulatory opening.
文摘Autotomy,the self-induced loss of a body part,is one of the most extreme forms of defense against predation.It occurs in a variety of animal taxa,including both vertebrates and invertebrates(Fleming et al.2007).The most commonly seen examples are spiders,lizards,and crustaceans(Emberts et al.2019)(Fig.1).By performing the autotomy behavior,animals can effectively survive predation or non-predatory entrapment,or reduce the cost of injury(Emberts et al.2019;Wuthrich et al.2022).
基金This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC-31801979 and 31872229)the Singapore Ministry of Education(MOE)AcRF Tier 1 grant(R-154-000-B18-114).
文摘Sexual conflict is common in animals,and female sexual cannibalism represents an extreme form of sexual conflict.Males in many species have evolved a variety of strategies to circumvent or decrease the risk of female sexual cannibalism.Opportunistic mating,by which a male mates with a female when she is disturbed or when she is feeding or undertaking moulting,is one of such kinds of strategies,and widely occurs in many animals,especially in spiders.However,whether the occurrence of male opportunistic mating depends on the intensity of female sexual cannibalism remains largely unexplored.We predicted a positive correlation between them.In this study,we tested this prediction by performing a series of mating trials in the laboratory using 3 species of web-building spiders with different intensities of female sexual cannibalism:Nephila pilipes,Nephilengys malabarensis,and Parasteatoda tepidariorum.We found that the occurrence of male opportunistic mating was positively,though not statistically significantly,correlated with the intensity of female sexual cannibalism,thus supporting our hypothesis.All together,we provide evidence that male opportunistic mating may have evolved to respond to the selection pressure posed by female sexual cannibalism.
