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Visual antipredator effects of web flexing in an orb web spider, with special reference to web decorations

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Abstract

Some visual antipredator strategies involve the rapid movement of highly contrasting body patterns to frighten or confuse the predator. Bright body colouration, however, can also be detected by potential predators and used as a cue. Among spiders, Argiope spp. are usually brightly coloured but they are not a common item in the diet of araneophagic wasps. When disturbed, Argiope executes a web-flexing behaviour in which they move rapidly and may be perceived as if they move backwards and towards an observer in front of the web. We studied the mechanisms underlying web-flexing behaviour as a defensive strategy. Using multispectral images and high-speed videos with deep-learning-based tracking techniques, we evaluated body colouration, body pattern, and spider kinematics from the perspective of a potential wasp predator. We show that the spider’s abdomen is conspicuous, with a disruptive colouration pattern. We found that the body outline of spiders with web decorations was harder to detect when compared to spiders without decorations. The abdomen was also the body part that moved fastest, and its motion was composed mainly of translational (vertical) vectors in the potential predator’s optical flow. In addition, with high contrast colouration, the spider’s movement might be perceived as a sudden change in body size (looming effect) as perceived by the predator. These effects alongside the other visual cues may confuse potential wasp predators by breaking the spider body outline and affecting the wasp’s flight manoeuvre, thereby deterring the wasp from executing the final attack.

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Data availability statement

The data will be archived and made available on GitHub (https://github.com/dinrao/Argiope).

S1 High-speed video (500 fps) showing the web-flexing behaviour of Argiope aurantia. S2 high-speed video (500 fps) showing the marks tracked in the spider body to evaluate the kinematic behaviour. These are also available as supplementary materials online.

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Funding

This project was supported by a Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) Ciencia Básica grant (CB-2016-01/285529). LR-O received support from CONACyT during his PhD program (CONACyT-México 634812/338721).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Red de Ecoetología, Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, México

    Luis E. Robledo-Ospina & Federico Escobar

  2. Instituto de Biotecnología y Ecología Aplicada, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, México

    Luis E. Robledo-Ospina & Dinesh Rao

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Nathan Morehouse

  4. Instituto de Investigaciones en Inteligencia Artificial, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, México

    Horacio Tapia-McClung

  5. School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Ajay Narendra

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  1. Luis E. Robledo-Ospina
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Contributions

Luis E. Robledo-Ospina: conceptualization (lead); data curation (lead); formal analysis (lead); investigation (lead); methodology (lead); project administration (equal); writing—original draft (lead); writing—review and editing (equal). Nathan Morehouse: conceptualization (supporting); methodology (supporting); writing—review and editing (equal). Federico Escobar: conceptualization (supporting); methodology (supporting); writing—review and editing (supporting). Horacio Tapia-McClung: formal analysis (supporting); methodology (equal); writing—review and editing (equal). Ajay Narendra: data curation (supporting); formal analysis (supporting); methodology (supporting); writing—review and editing (equal). Dinesh Rao: conceptualization (supporting); data curation (supporting); formal analysis (supporting); methodology (equal); project administration (equal); resources (lead); writing—review and editing (equal).

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Correspondence to Dinesh Rao.

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Communicated by: Matjaž Gregorič

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Supplementary Information

ESM 1:

Supplementary Table 1 Post-hoc comparisons with Holm correction of the speed measured on the different body parts of the spider. The letters L and R indicate the side of the spider leg, left or right, respectively. We also indicate the posterior and anterior region of the abdomen and the anterior part of the cephalothorax (head). * Indicates significant differences. (DOCX 16.4 kb)

S1: Video of Argiope aurantia showing the web-flexing behaviour. (MP4 21.9 mb)

S2: Video of Argiope aurantia’s web-flexing behaviour, showing points tracked. (MP4 22.6 mb)

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Robledo-Ospina, L.E., Morehouse, N., Escobar, F. et al. Visual antipredator effects of web flexing in an orb web spider, with special reference to web decorations. Sci Nat 110, 23 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-023-01849-6

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