Discovery of Nuptial Feeding in the Spider, Perenethis fascigera(Araneae: Pisauridae).

3 Pages·1998·0.58 MB·English

by  Yasuhiro Itakura

Acta arachnol., 47 (2): 173-175, December 30, 1998
Discovery of Nuptial Feeding in the Spider, Perenethis fascigera
(Araneae: Pisauridae)
Yasuhiro Itakural~
板倉泰弘1):ハ ヤテグモにおける婚姻給餌の発見
Introduction
Researches of nuptial feeding behaviour are useful for understanding sexual selec-
tion. This behaviour is known in some groups of animals, e.g. insects (Diptera and
Mecoptera), spiders and birds (Alcedines). A nursery web spider, Pisaura mirabilis,
had been known as the only spider species showing nuptial feeding behaviour for about
one century (Bristowe 1958, Austad & Thornhill 1986). Itakura (1987, 1993) found out
that a Japanese congeneric spider, Pisaura lama, also exhibits this behaviour, and
described it in detail. Recently I have discovered nuptial feeding in another species
Perenethis fascigera belonging to the different genus. In the present paper, I describe
the nuptial feeding behaviour of this spider for the first time.
Materials and Methods
Immature P. fascigera were collected from a dense population at Nishiokuda-cho,
Nishio-shi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, and were kept in glass bottles. In July 1998, the
spiders matured, and 3 males and 5 females were used for observation of the mating
behaviours. A male was introduced to a female on a flower in a vase, and subsequent
behaviours of the male and the female were observed for 1 hour. This trial was repeated
20 times; in 14 trials, the males keeping a gift of insect prey with the chelicerae were
introduced, and in the other 6 trials, males keeping no gift were used. Lucilia Caesar,
Chironomus yoshimatsui, Culex pipiens (Diptera), and Chilo suppressalis (Lepidoptera)
were used for the gifts. Females were mated with randomly chosen males.
Results and Discussion
Among 20 trials, females bit the gifts in 7 trials, and palpal insertion was observed
in 5 trials. In the other 13 trials, when males touched the female body, the females ran
away. After all males touched the female body and/or her drag-lines, the males began
courtship. Male courtship behaviours included abdomen-twitching, leg-waving, leg-
rubbing, tapping, and following female drag-lines. Males wrapped their prey with silk
and presented them to the females. When the males having no gift touched the female
1) 86-1-103, Matsuhana, Higashiotomo-cho, Okazaki-shi, Aichi Prefecture, 444-0903, Japan
T 444-090386-1-103
Accepted November 19, 1998
174 Y. Itakura
Fig. 1. Mating behaviours of P. fascigera. 1, The male is following female
drag-lines with excited jerky steps; 2, The male (below) is wrapping a gift; 3, The
male (right) is tapping female's legs (left); 4, P, fascigera in copula (left: male, right:
female). Both the male and female are biting the gift.
body, they picked up a carcass of insect around them to make gifts (in 3 trials). In such
a case, the duration of gift feeding was short, and the female ran away within 5 min., and
the male could not be palpal insertion. Males attempted palpal insertion using
copulatory position IV (Gerhardt & Kaestner 1937-38), while females were feeding on
the gifts. When the females ate up the gift before the males started palpal insertion, the
males did not succeed in copulation (in 2 trials). The mean duration of gift feeding was
25.1 min. (n=7, 1-62 min.), and the mean duration of palpal insertion was 21.8 min.
(n=5, 44 sec. -36 min.). Copulation was ended by males or females which suddenly
went away, in spite that the females were eating the gift. In 1 trial when the female ate
up the gift before the copulation was ended, the spiders twisted round each other and
separated. Females did not mate at all with males having no gift. Both males and
females mated more than a single mate, indicating multiple mating.
The outline of the mating behaviours of Perenethis fascigera was nearly the same
as that of Pisaura mirabilis and Pisaura lama, but differed from them in the following
points.
1. In Pisaura, the males having no gift did not show courtship behaviour, while
in P, fascigera, whether males had a gift or not, the males followed female drag-lines with
excited jerky steps (in all trials).
2. Pisaura males were not observed to keep an improvised carcass gift, but used a
flesh gift.
Discovery of Nuptial Feeding in Perenethis fascigera 175
3. Pisaura males wrapped their prey, whether females were present or not. P.
fascigera males started the gift wrapping behaviour after the males touched female body
(in all trials).
The sequence and other details of the mating behaviours of P. fascigera should be
examined in the future.
Acknowledgements
I express sincere thanks to Mr. Hiroyoshi Ikeda and Dr. Tadashi Miyashita for
comments on the manuscript of this paper.
摘 要
ハヤテグモPθ7εηε∫傭 ル5Cなθ7αの婚女因給餌行動の概略 を報じた.
References
Austad, S.N. & Thornhill, R.,1986. Female reproductive variation in a nuptial-feeding spider, Pisaura
mirabilis. Bull. Br. arachnol. Soc., 7 (2): 46-52.
Bristowe, W. 5.,1958. The World of Spiders. 304pp. Collins, London.
Gerhardt, U. & Kaestner, A.,1937-38. Araneae. In Handbuch der Zoologie, Vol. 3 (Kukenthal, W. G.
& Krumbach, T. eds.). pp. 394-656. De Gruyter, Berlin.
Itakura, Y.,1987. The nuptial feeding of Pisaura lama. Kishidaia, (55):1-2.(In Japanese.)
Itakura, Y.,1993. The life history and nuptial feeding of a nursery web spider, Pisaura lama. The
Insectarium, 30 (3): 4-9.(In Japanese.)