scholarly journals Old maids have more appeal: effects of age and pheromone source on mate attraction in an orb-web spider

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e1877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Cory ◽  
Jutta M. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Pheromone Production ◽  
Mate Attraction ◽  
Young Females ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Pheromone Emission ◽  
Orb Web ◽  
Old Females ◽  
Number Of Males

Background.In many insects and spider species, females attract males with volatile sex pheromones, but we know surprisingly little about the costs and benefits of female pheromone emission. Here, we test the hypothesis that mate attraction by females is dynamic and strategic in the sense that investment in mate attraction is matched to the needs of the female. We use the orb-web spiderArgiope bruennichiin which females risk the production of unfertilised egg clutches if they do not receive a copulation within a certain time-frame.Methods.We designed field experiments to compare mate attraction by recently matured (young) females with females close to oviposition (old). In addition, we experimentally separated the potential sources of pheromone transmission, namely the female body and the web silk.Results.In accordance with the hypothesis of strategic pheromone production, the probability of mate attraction and the number of males attracted differed between age classes. While the bodies and webs of young females were hardly found by males, the majority of old females attracted up to two males within two hours. Old females not only increased pheromone emission from their bodies but also from their webs. Capture webs alone spun by old females were significantly more efficient in attracting males than webs of younger females.Discussion.Our results suggest that females modulate their investment in signalling according to the risk of remaining unmated and that they thereby economize on the costs associated with pheromone production and emission.

Age-dependent changes in the ratio of (R)- and (S)-2-butanol released by virgin females of Dasylepida ishigakiensis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

2012 ◽  
Vol 102 (6) ◽  
pp. 730-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Fujiwara-Tsujii ◽  
H. Yasui ◽  
S. Wakamura ◽  
F. Mochizuki ◽  
N. Arakaki
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Relative Proportion ◽  
Flight Tunnel ◽  
Masking Effect ◽  
Racemic Mixture ◽  
Component Ratio ◽  
White Grub ◽  
Young Females ◽  
Dasylepida Ishigakiensis ◽  
Old Females

AbstractThe females of the white grub beetle, Dasylepida ishigakiensis, release two enantiomers of 2-butanol, (R)-2-butanol and (S)-2-butanol. The ratio describing the relative proportions of these two enantiomers (R/S ratio) has not yet been investigated. (R)-2-Butanol has been shown to attract males in laboratory and field experiments, whereas (S)-2-butanol tends to inhibit them. To determine the R/S ratio of the 2-butanol emitted by virgin females, we collected 2-butanol from young (53 days old), mature (63 days old) and old females (73 days old) using water, extracted with an SPME fibre and subsequently injected into GC-MS. The major component of the 2-butanol emitted by the young females was (R)-2-butanol, but as the females aged, the component ratio favoured (S)-2-butanol. Young females released an 80:20 mixture of (R)- and (S)-2-butanol, whereas old females released a 45:55 mixture. The EAG response of male antennae to a 50:50 ratio (racemic mixture) showed a similar dose-response curve to that of (R)-2-butanol. The male orientation responses to (R)-2-butanol decreased when the relative proportion of (S)-2-butanol increased. An inhibitory and/or masking effect of (S)-2-butanol on male orientation behaviour was also observed in the flight tunnel assay. These results suggest that males are more strongly attracted to young females than to old females. We also discuss the possibility of using 2-butanol isomers as a control or monitoring agent for this insect.

scholarly journals Direct and indirect bottom-up and top-down forces shape the abundance of the orb-web spider Argiope bruennichi

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 706-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odile T. Bruggisser ◽  
Nadine Sandau ◽  
Gilles Blandenier ◽  
Yvonne Fabian ◽  
Patrik Kehrli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web

scholarly journals Field observation on predation of an orb web spider (Araneae: Araneidae) by the corinnid sac spider, Corinnomma severum (Araneae: Corinnidae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-76
Author(s):  
Yuya Suzuki ◽  
Booppa Petcharad ◽  
Thanakorn Into ◽  
Akio Tanikawa
Keyword(s):  
Field Observation ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web

Conspicuous colours in a polymorphic orb-web spider: evidence of predator avoidance but not prey attraction

2020 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Nathalia G. Ximenes ◽  
Felipe M. Gawryszewski
Keyword(s):  
Predator Avoidance ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web ◽  
Prey Attraction

scholarly journals Reeling in the prey: fishing behaviour in an orb web spider

2019 ◽  
Vol 222 (24) ◽  
pp. jeb213751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinesh Rao ◽  
Horacio Tapia-McClung ◽  
Ajay Narendra
Keyword(s):  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web

scholarly journals Influence of Age, Host Plant and Mating Status in Pheromone Production and New Insights on Perception Plasticity in Tuta Absoluta

Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aroa Domínguez ◽  
Sergio López ◽  
Ana Bernabé ◽  
Ángel Guerrero ◽  
Carmen Quero
Keyword(s):  
Host Plant ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Tuta Absoluta ◽  
Pheromone Production ◽  
Female Age ◽  
Young Females ◽  
The Family ◽  
Important Pest ◽  
Behavioral Parameters ◽  
First Time

The tomato leafminer Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is one of the most important pests of tomato worldwide. However, in spite of its tremendous economic importance, the success of environmentally friendly measures to control the pest is still limited. Study of physiological and behavioral parameters that affect pheromone production has provided useful information for pest management. Our results show no clear difference in pheromone production by females over the period from 2 h before to 2 h after the scotophase. However, pheromone production was clearly dependent on female age, with young females producing the highest amount of each pheromone component 10 days after emergence. In the presence of the host plant (physical contact and olfaction of the plant volatiles), virgin and mated females produced higher amounts of the major component of the pheromone (TDTA) than those in the absence of plant and those devoid of olfaction (antennectomized) but in physical contact with the plant. In electrophysiological experiments, TDTA elicited slightly lower responses on male antennae than the pheromone mixture. When stimulated at certain time intervals after the first exposure to TDTA, male antennae became more sensitive to the stimulus (sensitization effect). For the first time in an insect of the family Gelechiidae, we have found that females are able to detect their own pheromone (autodetection). Altogether, our results may represent a step forward in the knowledge of the chemical communication of this important pest.

Deciding where to settle: conspecific attraction and web site selection in the orb-web spider Nephilengys cruentata

2001 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1007-1012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Schuck-Paim ◽  
Wladimir Jimenez Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Conspecific Attraction ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web

Dragline-associated behaviour of the orb web spider Nephila clavipes (Araneoidea, Tetragnathidae)

1998 ◽  
Vol 244 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. G. Barth ◽  
S. N. Gorb ◽  
M. A. Landolfa
Keyword(s):  
Nephila Clavipes ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web
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