Black widow spiders use path integration on their webs

Western black widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus) remember prey capture location and size, but only alter behavior for prey caught at particular sites

“…First, we controlled for the effects of disturbance and found clear differences in searching behavior between our control and treatment spiders. Second, the searching behavior described in this paper is distinct from the fleeing or crouching behaviors of disturbed or frightened spiders, as we have described in a prior publication (Sergi et al, 2021).…”

“…The gumfooted lines are the primary prey capture structures of black widow webs. Reproduced with permission from Sergi et al, 2021. We used the above searching assay to test two hypotheses about black widow memory. First, we tested the general hypothesis that black widows form some memory of the prey they capture in their webs.…”

“…Web spiders form memories of their web and its contents and use these memories to guide decision‐making. Some remember the overall layout of their web and their position in it (LeGuelte, 1969; Sergi et al, 2021). Some remember the location in the web where they captured prey, and alter their webs to make them better able to capture prey in the web location where past prey captures have occurred (Nakata, 2012).…”

“…The gumfooted lines are the primary prey capture structures of black widow webs. Reproduced with permission from Sergi et al, 2021.…”

Distinct movement patterns generate stages of spider web building

“…Prior work on black widow and funnel-web spiders has demonstrated the existence of path integration memory. [31][32][33] In contrast to behavioral states such as satiety and arousal, which are mostly hidden and need to be inferred indirectly, the physical outputs of the phases of web building provide a useful record of the spider's behavioral state, facilitating study of the external and internal factors generating these behavioral regimes.…”