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Diet Influences Mate Choice Selectivity In Adult Female Wolf Spiders, Eileen Hebets, Jennifer Wesson, Paul S. Shamble

Eileen Hebets Publications

Most studies of female choice have assumed that mating preferences are shared within a population or species. However, variation both within and among females exists in natural populations, and foraging history is among the many ways in which females may vary. Here, we used diet manipulations in an effort to understand how foraging history influences female mate choice. Immature Schizocosa wolf spiders collected from a mixed population of brush-legged and non-ornamented males were reared in the laboratory on two diets that varied in both quality and quantity (low/high diet). For low- and high-diet individuals, we recorded data on rates of …