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Complex latitudinal variation in the morphology of the kleptoparasitic spider Argyrodes kumadai associated with host use and climatic conditions

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Population Ecology

Abstract

We examined complex geographical patterns in the morphology of a kleptoparasitic spider, Argyrodes kumadai, across its distributional range in Japan. To disentangle biotic and abiotic factors underlying morphological variation, latitudinal trends were investigated in two traits, body size and relative leg length, across separate transition zones for host use and voltinism. Statistical analyses revealed complex sawtooth clines. Adult body size dramatically changed at the transition zones for host use and voltinism, and exhibited a latitudinal decline following the converse to Bergmann’s cline under the same host use and voltinism in both sexes. A similar pattern was observed for relative leg length in females but not in males. A genetic basis for a part of observed differences in morphology was supported by a common-garden experiment. Our data suggest that local adaptation to factors other than season length such as resource availability (here associated with host use) obscures underlying responses to latitude.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Yoh Ihara, Teruo Irie, Takahide Kamura, Yasunori Maezono, Kiyoto Ogata, Akio Tanikawa and Yuya Watari for providing specimens and living spiders for analysis, and Nobuo Tsurusaki for comments on the manuscript. We especially thank the staff of the Amami Wildlife Conservation Center for their hospitality and assistance with fieldwork on Amami-oshima. We also acknowledge members of the Laboratory of Biodiversity Science, especially Masanobu Yoshio, for support. This study was supported by a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists (JSPS 17-11551). RW was supported by a JSPS Short-Term Fellowship Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Kannon-dai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8604, Japan

    Yuki G. Baba

  2. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 217, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AH, UK

    Richard J. Walters

  3. Laboratory of Biodiversity Science, School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Tadashi Miyashita

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  1. Yuki G. Baba
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  2. Richard J. Walters
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  3. Tadashi Miyashita
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Correspondence to Yuki G. Baba.

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Baba, Y.G., Walters, R.J. & Miyashita, T. Complex latitudinal variation in the morphology of the kleptoparasitic spider Argyrodes kumadai associated with host use and climatic conditions. Popul Ecol 55, 43–51 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-012-0334-5

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