Stalking decisions of web‐invading araneophagic jumping spiders from Australia, Azerbaijan, Israel, Kenya, Portugal, and Sri Lanka: The opportunistic smokescreen tactics ofBrettus, Cocalus, Cyrba, andPortia

Abstract

In laboratory experiments using lures (dead spiders in lifelike posture), six salticid species from four genera (Brettus, Cocalus, Cyrba, and Portia) are shown to use an opportunistic smokescreen tactic, comparable to a tactic previously demonstrated in Portia, in experiments using living prey instead of lures. After invading webs of other spiders, each of these species exploits situations in which the resident spider's ability to detect the predator's approach is impaired: periods when the web was being blown by a fan (simulating wind) or shaken by a moving magnet attached to a cork (simulating struggles of an insect ensnared in the web). When stalking a spider, each species moved significantly farther during intervals when disturbances (i.e., simulated wind or simulated insect struggles) were present than during intervals when no disturbances were present. However, when oriented toward an ensnared insect in the web, when already feeding on a spider, or when in a vacant web with no prey spider in view, there was no evidence that the salticid timed locomotion to correspond with the presence of disturbances, suggesting that the behavioural reaction recorded is reserved specifically for occasions when the salticid is oriented toward prey spiders in webs.

Behavioral response of mantid Tenodera aridifolia (Mantodea: Mantidae) to windy conditions as a cryptic approach strategy for approaching prey

“…Similarly, Y. arenarius approaches cryptically when the prey moves (changing position, cleaning legs or antennae), which decreases its ability to perceive a moving predator (Wilcox et al . 1996; Cerveira et al . 2003).…”

A road map of jumping spider behavior

“…1F) exhibits complex predatory behavior, including trial-and-error derivation of web-based signals as a form of aggressive mimicry with which to lure a web-spider gently towards the awaiting hunter without eliciting a predatory response from the web-spider. Cyrba algerina , also like Portia , additionally makes use of ‘smokescreens’ (Cerveira et al 2003), in which the spiders move toward their web-spider prey, but not toward insects caught in webs, during periods in which the resident’s web is disturbed (e.g., by wind). To identify prey, C. algerina uses visual (Cerveira et al 2019) and odor-based cues (Cerveira & Jackson 2011), but exhibits marked and nuanced geographical variation in responses.…”

“…Furthermore, external sources of information-such as the odor of a potential mate escalates interactions in a nuanced manner. In 'traditional' species with female mate choice, the odor of different-sex spiders escalates fights only among males, but in 'non-traditional' species such as Evarcha culicivora Wesołowska & Jackson, 2003, that exhibit mutual mate choice, both sexes escalate interactions with the odor of a different-sex individual (Cross & Jackson 2009a).…”