Fighting success in relation to body mass and drumming activity in the male wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata

Abstract

In the wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata, males court females by drumming dry leaves with their abdomen. Females prefer to mate with the most actively drumming males, and courtship drumming activity is also positively correlated with male viability. However, body mass of the males seems to have only a minor, if any, effect on female choice or male viability. There is also no correlation between male body mass and courtship drumming activity. We studied the effect of body mass and courtship drumming activity on the outcome of agonistic encounters between male H. rubrofasciata. For this purpose, males and females were randomly placed in a plastic arena, where male courtship drumming activity and agonistic encounters were recorded. Large differences in body mass and drumming activity between two rivals seemed to independently increase the probability of the larger or more active males winning. We conclude that while courtship drumming activity affects the fighting success of the males, and body mass more so, male–male interactions may not be of major importance in sexual selection of H. rubrofasciata.