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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, …
Increased Insertion Number Leads To Increased Sperm Transfer And Fertilization Success In A Nursery Web Spider, Alissa G. Anderson, Eileen Hebets
Increased Insertion Number Leads To Increased Sperm Transfer And Fertilization Success In A Nursery Web Spider, Alissa G. Anderson, Eileen Hebets
Eileen Hebets Publications
Across animals, a male's fitness is largely dictated by his ability to fertilize eggs; and there exists a plethora of male adaptations associated with increasing fertilization success. In the nursery web spider, Pisaurina mira, males restrain females prior to and during copulation by wrapping them with silk. Previous research demonstrates that copulatory silk wrapping reduces a male's chance of being sexually cannibalized and increases the number of sperm transfer opportunities (termed insertions) that a male can achieve within a mating. While avoiding cannibalism provides an obvious survival benefit to males, the impact of insertion number on male fitness remains …
Benefits Of Size Dimorphism And Copulatory Silk Wrapping In The Sexually Cannibalistic Nursery Web Spider, Pisaurina Mira, Alissa G. Anderson, Eileen Hebets
Benefits Of Size Dimorphism And Copulatory Silk Wrapping In The Sexually Cannibalistic Nursery Web Spider, Pisaurina Mira, Alissa G. Anderson, Eileen Hebets
Eileen Hebets Publications
In sexually cannibalistic animals, male fitness is influenced not only by successful mate acquisition and egg fertilization, but also by avoiding being eaten. In the cannibalistic nursery web spider, Pisaurina mira, the legs of mature males are longer in relation to their body size than those of females, and males use these legs to aid in wrapping a female’s legs with silk prior to and during copulation. We hypothesized that elongated male legs and silk wrapping provide benefits to males, in part through a reduced likelihood of sexual cannibalism. To test this, we paired females of random size with …