EVIDENCE FOR TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOR IN A BURROWING WOLF SPIDER

Evidence is presented for territorial behavior in a burrowing wolf spi der, Geolycosa xera archboldi McCrone (Araneae, Lycosidae). These spid ers live in burrows in the scrub habitats of central Florida, USA. Mea n nearest-neighbor distances repeatedly approximate 30 cm. The constan cy of this mean indicates that social spacing may be occurring. A test for perceptual range showed that G. xera can respond to potential pre y at distances greater than 30 cm, indicating that the 30-cm nearest-n eighbor distance does not represent a distance within which larger nei ghboring burrow-holders treat smaller neighboring conspecifics as food . Dyadic encounters in field enclosures showed that the distance at wh ich neighbors would not be tolerated was within the observed mean near est-neighbor distance. In these experimental tests for territorial beh avior, smaller dyad members lost burrows significantly more often than larger dyad members.