Wenseleers et al 2013.pdf (617.8 kB)
Download fileBourgeois behavior and freeloading in the colonial orb web spider Parawixia bistriata (Araneae, Araneidae)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 04:58 authored by Tom Wenseleers, Jonathan Bacon, Denise A Alves, Margaret J Couvillon, Martin Kärcher, Fabio S Nascimento, Paulo Nogueira-Neto, Marcia Ribeiro, Elva J H Robinson, Adam Tofilski, Francis RatnieksSpiders of the tropical American colonial orb weaver Parawixia bistriata form a communal bivouac in daytime. At sunset, they leave the bivouac and construct individual, defended webs within a large, communally built scaffolding of permanent, thick silk lines between trees and bushes. Once spiders started building a web, they repelled other spiders walking on nearby scaffolding with a "bounce" behavior. In nearly all cases (93%), this resulted in the intruder leaving without a fight, akin to the "bourgeois strategy," in which residents win and intruders retreat without escalated contests. However, a few spiders (6.5%) did not build a web due to lack of available space. Webless spiders were less likely to leave when bounced (only 42% left) and instead attempted to "freeload," awaiting the capture of prey items in nearby webs. Our simple model shows that webless spiders should change their strategy from bourgeois to freeloading satellite as potential web sites become increasingly occupied.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
American NaturalistISSN
0003-0147Publisher
University of Chicago PressExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
182Page range
120-129Department affiliated with
- Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications
Research groups affiliated with
- Sussex Neuroscience Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes