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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences
Solifuge (Camel Spider) Reproductive Biology: An Untapped Taxon For Exploring Sexual Selection, Alfredo V. Peretti, David E. Vrech, Eileen Hebets
Solifuge (Camel Spider) Reproductive Biology: An Untapped Taxon For Exploring Sexual Selection, Alfredo V. Peretti, David E. Vrech, Eileen Hebets
Eileen Hebets Publications
The exploration of new and diverse animal groups in the study of sexual selection is both necessary and important to help better understand broad patterns and test sexual selection hypotheses regarding the evolutionary origins and maintenance of reproductive tactics and associated traits. Solifuges are, in this matter, an exceptional group and very little explored from the sexual selection point of view. At first glance, mating is apparently quite simple and conserved within this arachnid order, but solifuge reproductive behavior is unique among arachnids and more diverse than previously thought. In particular, these voracious animals appear to exhibit high sexual conflict, …
Obligate Male Death And Sexual Cannibalism In Dark Fishing Spiders, Steven Schwartz, William E. Wagner, Eileen A. Hebets
Obligate Male Death And Sexual Cannibalism In Dark Fishing Spiders, Steven Schwartz, William E. Wagner, Eileen A. Hebets
Eileen Hebets Publications
Male dark fishing spiders (Dolomedes tenebrosus Araneae, Pisauridae) always die during their first and only copulation, making all males monogynous. Such obligate male death can be adaptive if it facilitates sexual cannibalism, and if sexual cannibalism results in male reproductive benefits, such as an advantage in sperm competition through reduced female remating. We first conducted an experiment to determine the extent to which D. tenebrosus (1) males are cannibalized by females and (2) females engage in remating, both of which are prerequisites for several adaptive hypotheses of male self-sacrifice. We then conducted an experiment to test the hypothesis that …