Abstract
Sexual conflict may influence the shape and evolution of body structures that males use to grasp females during mating. Not only sexual coercion but also intersexual cooperation may be involved during clasping behavior. Among pholcid spiders, secondary sexual modifications of the male chelicerae, such as apophyses with spines or tooth-like processes, function to grasp the female by specific parts of her external genitalia such as grooves or apophyses of the epigynum. We analyzed how the female and the male respond when their structures for clasping are experimentally modified in the pholcid Physocyclus dugesi. We used three treatment groups for virgin females that differed in the manipulation of the epigynum apophyses (uncovered, partially covered, and fully covered by a plaster) and two groups of males (uncovered and fully covered cheliceral apophyses). We found that females are mainly cooperative to courting males not only when the female genital apophyses were experimentally covered but also when the male cheliceral apophyses were covered. The current data also indicate behavioral flexibility in males during courtship, especially when they had difficulty in genital intromission. Our experimental results, together with previous observational studies, support a modulated-cooperative scenario between the sexes for cheliceral clasping and genital intromission in pholcid spiders.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.