Summary
In the spider Meta segmentata web site quality and competitive ability determine female distributions, and ultimately male mating strategy. Large, fecund females position their webs in aggregations in high quality habitats, whereas small females live alone in lower quality sites. Competition for web sites is intense. Large females have a fighting advantage, but web ownership can offset size disadvantages of about 10%. Males compete for access to female webs. The smallest males are excluded from aggregations of females but have a very high probability of mating monogamously with females in poor habitats. The largest males move about within aggregations and by mating with many females achieve the highest reproductive gains. Moderately sized males only have a low probability of mating in an aggregation, but for those that do succeed the reproductive gains are higher than for those that mate monogamously in low quality areas. On average, moderately sized males obtain reproductive gains from the high risk, high gain strategy of defending webs in aggregations that are equal to those from definding solitary females in poor areas. That 18 of 21 moderately sized males defend females in aggregations suggests that M. segmentata behaves in a riskprone fashion.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Austad SN (1982) First male sperm priority in the bowl and doily spider, Frontinella pyramitela (Wackenaer). Evolution 36:777–785
Austad SN (1984) A classification of alternative reproductive behaviors and methods for field-testing ESS models. Am Zool 24:309–319
Cade WH (1980) Alternative male reproductive behaviors. Fla Entomol 63:30–45
Cade WH (1981) Alternative male mating strategies: Genetic differences in crickets. Science 212:563–564
Cade WH (1984) Genetic variation underlying sexual behavior and reproduction. Am Zool 24:355–366
Caraco T (1981) Risk sensitivity and foraging group. Ecology 62:527–531
Christenson, TE (1984) Alternative reproductive tactics in spiders. Am Zool 24:321–332
Christenson TE, Goist KC (1979) Costs and benefits of male-male competition in the orb weaving spider, Nephila clavipes. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 5:87–92
Davies NB (1982) Behaviour and competition for scarce resources. In: King's College Sociobiology Group, (eds) Current problems in sociobiology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 363–380
Davies NB, Halliday TR (1978) Deep croaks and fighting assessment in toads Bufo bufo. Nature 274:683–685
Dawkins R (1980) Good strategy of evolutionarily stable strategy? In: Barlow GW, Silverberg J (eds) Sociobiology: Beyond nature/nurture. Westview Press, Boulder, pp 331–367
Dominey W (1980) Female mimicry in bluegill sunfish: A genetic polymorphism? Nature 284:546–548
Dunbar RIM (1982) The logic of intraspecific variation in mating strategy. perspect Ethol 5:300–325
Emlen ST (1976) Lek organization and mating strategies in the bullfrog. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 1:283–313
Enders F (1977) Web site selection by orb spiders, particularly Argiope aurantia Lucas. Anim Behav 25:694–712
Fairchild L (1984) Male reproductive tactics in an explosive breeding toad population. Am Zool 24:407–418
Farr A (1977) Social behavior of the golden silk spider, Nephila clavipes. J Arachnol 4:137–144
Gillespie RG (1981) The quest for prey by the web building spider Amaurobius similis (Blackwell). Anim Behav 29:953–966
Gillespie RG, Caraco T (1987) Risk-sensitive foraging strategies of two spider populations. Behav Ecol Sociobiol (in press)
Gross MR (1982) Sneakers, satellites, and parentals: Polymorphic mating strategies in North American sunfishes. Z Tierpsychol 60:1–26
Howard RD (1984) Alternative mating behaviors of young male bullfrogs. Am Zool 24:397–406
Jackson RR (1980) The mating strategy of Phidippus johnsoni (Araneae, Salticidae): II Sperm competition and the function of copulation. J Arachnol 8:217–240
Lee RF (1975) Lipids in the mesopelagic copepod, Gaussia princeps. Was ester utilization during starvation. Comp Biochem Physiol 50:1–4
Lubin YD (1974) Adaptive advantages and the evolution of colony formation in Cyrtophora (Araneae: Araneidae). Zool J Linn Soc 54:321–339
Mason RT, Crews D (1985) Female mimicry in garter snakes. Nature 316:59–60
Oster G, Heinrich B (1976) Why do bumblebees major? A mathematical model. Ecol Monogr 46:129–133
Real LA (1981) Uncertainty and pollinator plant interactions: The foraging behavior of bees and wasps on artificial flowers. Ecology 62:20–26
Riechert SE (1976) Web-site selection in the desert spider, Agelenopsis aperta (Gertsch). Oikos 27:311–315
Riechert SE (1982) Spider interaction strategies: Communication vs. coercion. In: Witt PN, Rovner JS (eds) Spider Communication, Chap 8. Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp 281–315
Riechert SE, Luczak J (1982) Spider foraging: Behavioral responses to prey. In: Witt PN, Rovner JS (eds) Spider Communication, Chap 10. Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp 353–385
Riechert SE, Tracy CR (1975) Thermal balance and prey availability: bases for a model relating web-site characteristics to spider reproductive success. Ecology 56:265–284
Rubenstein DI (1982) Risk, uncertainty, and evolutionary strategies. In: King's College Sociobiology Group (eds) Current problems in sociobiology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 91–111
Rubenstein DI (1980) On the evolution of alternative mating strategies. In: Staddon JER (ed) Limits to Action. Academic Press, New York, pp 65–100
Rypstra AL (1979) Foraging flocks of spiders. A study of aggregative behavior in Cyrtophora citricola Forslcal (araneae: Araneidae) in West Africa. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 5:291–300
Smith DR (1982) Reproductive success of solitary and communal Philoponella owenii (Aranea: Uloboridaw). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 11:149–154
Turnbull AL (1964) The search for prey by a web-building spider Achaearanea tepidariorum (C.L. Koch), (Acaneae, Theridiidae). Can Entomol 96:568–579
Uetz GW, Burgess JW (1979) Habitat structure and colonial behavior in Meteperia spinipes (Arareae: Araneidae), an orb weaving spider from Mexico. Psyche 86:79–89
Uetz GW, Kane TC, Stratten GE (1982) Variation in the social grouping tendency of a communal web building spider. Science 217:547–549
Vollrath F (1980) Male body size and fitness in the web-building spider Nephila clavipes. Z Tierpsychol 53:61–78
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rubenstein, D.I. Alternative reproductive tactics in the spider Meta segmentata . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 20, 229–237 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292175
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292175