Behavior and Ethology Commons^™

Subadult Female Experience Does Not Influence Species Recognition In The Wolf Spider Schizocosa Uetzi Stratton 1997, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

In many vertebrate systems, early experience has been linked to the learning of species specific traits that are subsequently assessed during mate choice, thus ensuring conspecific matings. In invertebrate systems, however, early experience was not thought to play a role in mate choice until a recent study using Schizocosa uetzi Stratton 1997 wolf spiders demonstrated that females mate more readily with males of a familiar versus unfamiliar phenotype. The function of early mate choice learning in this system is not yet known, but a role in learning species-specific traits seems unlikely. In northwestern Mississippi, S. uetzi is found sympatrically with …