Abstract
The peacock spider, Maratus volans, has one of the most elaborate courtship displays in arthropods. Using regular and high-speed video segments captured in the lab, we provide detailed descriptions of complete male courtship dances. As research on jumping spiders has demonstrated that males of some species produce vibrations concurrently with visual displays, we also used laser vibrometry to uncover such elements for this species. Our recordings reveal and describe for the first time, that M. volans males use vibratory signals in addition to complex body ornaments and motion displays. The peacock spider and other closely related species are outstanding study organisms for testing hypotheses about the evolution and functional significance of complex displays, thus, this descriptive study establishes a new model system for behavioral ecology, one that certainly stands to make important contributions to the field.
Highlights
Research on animal courtship has demonstrated that males of many species produce elaborate multi-component signals spanning more than one sensory modality
In this paper we describe, in detail, the remarkable courtship display of the peacock spider, Maratus volans
Our results show that peacock spiders use visual displays in conjunction with vibratory signals during courtship
Summary
Research on animal courtship has demonstrated that males of many species produce elaborate multi-component signals spanning more than one sensory modality (multi-modal signals e.g. combinations of tactile, visual, acoustic, etc. signals). Each component of multi-modal signals may be informative to females in a different way (multiple message hypothesis [1]). Different multi-modal signal components may independently reflect the same information, providing back-up for intrinsic signaling errors (redundant signal hypothesis [1]). Females may evaluate only one, or a few, traits at a time with complex male signals; or instead, they may process many signal components together to facilitate the evaluation of potential mates [1,2,3]. Biases in human senses have led to an oversimplification in the potential information contained in animal signals [4,5], and in some instances even failed to identify the modalities and signals most involved in female choice [6,7,8]. Comprehensive study of the signals themselves is an overlooked, yet crucial component of animal behavior research
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