Faculty Opinions recommendation of Web architecture, dynamics and silk investment in the social spider Stegodyphus sarasinorum.

Abstract Predators living in social groups often show consistent interindividual differences in prey capture behavior that may be linked to personality. Though personality predisposes individuals for certain behaviors, responses can also be influenced by context. Studies examining personality-dependent participation in prey capture have largely employed only one prey species, offering the predator no choice. In nature, predators encounter a range of prey species, therefore participation in or leading a prey capture event must also depend on prey attributes (e.g., size and risk). In the social spider Stegodyphus sarasinorum, collective prey capture is mediated by personality types as a consequence of which some individuals are consistently more likely to attack. Here, we examined if an individual’s consistency to attack persisted within and between the 2 prey species (honeybees and grasshoppers) and if the same individuals attacked first with both prey species. Our results showed that interindividual differences in attacking persisted within and between the 2 prey species. Spiders showed greater participation in attacking grasshoppers relative to bees. Identities of the first attackers were not the same for bees and grasshoppers. Spiders showed greater consistency over time in attacking bees relative to grasshoppers. Bees attracted fewer attackers than size-matched grasshoppers. These results suggest that greater task specialization may be necessary to successfully subdue bees. Spiders handled bees more cautiously, which is likely to explain the observed plasticity in attacking the 2 prey species. Thus, participation in prey capture in social spiders is influenced by the attributes of prey species.

Download Full-text

The Life-History of Badumna-Candida (Araneae, Amaurobioidea)

Australian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1071/zo9930441 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 41 (5) ◽

pp. 441 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

MF Downes

Keyword(s):

Sex Ratio ◽

Egg Production ◽

Production Cycle ◽

Social Spider ◽

Social Spiders ◽

Primary Sex Ratio ◽

The Social ◽

The Status ◽

History Of ◽

Changes Over Time

A two-year study of the social spider Badumna candida at Townsville, Queensland, provided information on colony size and changes over time, maturation synchrony, temperature effects on development, sex ratio, dispersal, colony foundation, fecundity and oviposition. Key findings were that B. candida outbred, had an iteroparous egg-production cycle between March and October, had an even primary sex ratio and achieved maturation synchrony by retarding the development of males, which matured faster than females at constant temperature. There was no overlap of generations, the cohort of young from a nest founded by a solitary female in summer dispersing the following summer as subadults (females) or subadults and adults (males). These findings confirm the status of B. candida as a periodic-social spider (an annual outbreeder), in contrast to the few known permanent-social spider species whose generations overlap. Cannibalism, normally rare in social spiders, rose to 48% when spiders were reared at a high temperature. This may be evidence that volatile recognition pheromones suppress predatory instincts in social spiders.

Download Full-text

DNA Methylation Patterns in the Social Spider, Stegodyphus dumicola

Genes ◽

10.3390/genes10020137 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 137 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Shenglin Liu ◽

Anne Aagaard ◽

Jesper Bechsgaard ◽

Trine Bilde

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Dna Methylation ◽

Sequence Data ◽

Social Spider ◽

The Social ◽

Genome Bisulfite Sequencing ◽

Differential Gene ◽

Methylation Patterns ◽

Comparative Phylogenetic Analysis

Variation in DNA methylation patterns among genes, individuals, and populations appears to be highly variable among taxa, but our understanding of the functional significance of this variation is still incomplete. We here present the first whole genome bisulfite sequencing of a chelicerate species, the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola. We show that DNA methylation occurs mainly in CpG context and is concentrated in genes. This is a pattern also documented in other invertebrates. We present RNA sequence data to investigate the role of DNA methylation in gene regulation and show that, within individuals, methylated genes are more expressed than genes that are not methylated and that methylated genes are more stably expressed across individuals than unmethylated genes. Although no causal association is shown, this lends support for the implication of DNA CpG methylation in regulating gene expression in invertebrates. Differential DNA methylation between populations showed a small but significant correlation with differential gene expression. This is consistent with a possible role of DNA methylation in local adaptation. Based on indirect inference of the presence and pattern of DNA methylation in chelicerate species whose genomes have been sequenced, we performed a comparative phylogenetic analysis. We found strong evidence for exon DNA methylation in the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus and in all spider and scorpion species, while most Parasitiformes and Acariformes species seem to have lost DNA methylation.

Download Full-text