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Bourgeois behavior and freeloading in the colonial orb web spider Parawixia bistriata (Araneae, Araneidae)

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posted on 2023-06-09, 04:58 authored by Tom Wenseleers, Jonathan Bacon, Denise A Alves, Margaret J Couvillon, Martin Kärcher, Fabio S Nascimento, Paulo Nogueira-Neto, Marcia Ribeiro, Elva J H Robinson, Adam Tofilski, Francis Ratnieks
Spiders of the tropical American colonial orb weaver Parawixia bistriata form a communal bivouac in daytime. At sunset, they leave the bivouac and construct individual, defended webs within a large, communally built scaffolding of permanent, thick silk lines between trees and bushes. Once spiders started building a web, they repelled other spiders walking on nearby scaffolding with a "bounce" behavior. In nearly all cases (93%), this resulted in the intruder leaving without a fight, akin to the "bourgeois strategy," in which residents win and intruders retreat without escalated contests. However, a few spiders (6.5%) did not build a web due to lack of available space. Webless spiders were less likely to leave when bounced (only 42% left) and instead attempted to "freeload," awaiting the capture of prey items in nearby webs. Our simple model shows that webless spiders should change their strategy from bourgeois to freeloading satellite as potential web sites become increasingly occupied.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

American Naturalist

ISSN

0003-0147

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Issue

1

Volume

182

Page range

120-129

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex Neuroscience Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-01-30

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-01-30

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-01-30

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