South American spider species known to woo females with silk-wrapped food parcels is affected by climate changes
Scientists in South America and Australia have discovered that environmental stresses, such as large variations in rainfall and floods in the rivers, tend to change the mating rituals of these semi-aquatic Neotropical spiders which live in riparian habitats in Uruguay and Brazil.
The study found that during moderate to harsh lean times, gift-giving spider Paratrechalea ornata males often offer females a deceptive or worthless gift, rather than a food gift.
Evolutionary biologist Dr Maria Albo, from Uruguay’s Universidad de La República, said: “Our study found this behaviour probably corresponds with periods of time when food is more difficult to find so some males might ‘cheat’ by offering fake gifts.
“While males of some spider populations offer prey to females as a way to convince them to mate, there might be less bountiful periods when males are more deceptive with their ‘nuptial’ gifts.”
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Long-term effects of climate change
When local environmental conditions are harsh, these fake parcels become more common rather than the exception and both males and females become smaller and need less food, researchers say, warning of the long-term effects of climate change on spider, insect and other organisms’ survival.
Flinders University arachnid and insect expert Dr Bruno Buzatto, a co-author of the latest study, said the gift-giving spiders display contrasting behaviours to other species where the females may devour the males after mating.
He said: “These spiders offer captured prey to females as a way to convince them to mate.
“In times of plenty, females will usually reject males if they offer fake gifts, but they may eventually have to accept the gifts with no food inside when most males are forced to cheat.”
The study of P ornata concludes the potential for worthless gits to fully take over is promoted by highly stressful environmental conditions such as low rainfall and climatic variation which can affect their riparian habitats and watercourses in South America.
In turn, this involves widespread prey shortages, female fecundity and general decline in adult spider size.
The research team has been studying the gift-giving patterns of Paratrechalea ornata, a roughly bottle cap-sized semi-aquatic spider found in Uruguay and surrounding South American countries, to gain insights in the event of future climatic and environmental changes.
The study is published in BMC Biology.
Image: South American male Paratrechalea ornata spiders offer silk-wrapped food gifts to woo females. Credit: MJ Albo (Universidad de la República, Uruguay).
