Ma. Hodge et Gw. Uetz, A COMPARISON OF AGONISTIC BEHAVIOR OF COLONIAL WEB-BUILDING SPIDERS FROM DESERT AND TROPICAL HABITATS, Animal behaviour, 50, 1995, pp. 963-972
The agonistic behaviour of two species of colonial spiders, Metepeira
sp. a (atascadero), and M. incrassata, from desert and tropical habita
ts, respectively, in Mexico, were compared by observing induced intera
ctions between immature and/or female spiders at natural web sites. In
dividuals of the desert species showed a greater tendency to escalate
to potentially damaging behaviour, whereas the tropical species exhibi
ted primarily low-intensity aggressive behaviour. In both species, gre
ater body mass determined which spider gained possession of the web in
unequally matched contests, whereas in equally matched contests, web
residents won more often than did intruders. Desert spider conflicts w
ere of significantly longer duration than tropical spider conflicts. T
he significance of these results for understanding the evolution of so
cial behaviour in spiders is discussed. (C) 1995 The Association for t
he Study of Animal Behaviour