• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.315-318
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• 2007

Cooperative or non-territorial permanently social spiders are believed to have evolved from species showing subsocial maternal care. The transition from subsocial to cooperative social groups probably involved a transition from an outbreeding breeding system to one with inbreeding. Nepotistic recognition among siblings should facilitate the evolution of social cooperation through avoidance of inbreeding and maintenance of mutual tolerance between siblings. We conducted experiments to determine whether a mechanism for sibling recognition is present in the subsocial spider, Coelotes terrestris which displays extended maternal care in the form of food provisioning. The numbers of surviving individuals within unfed groups were observed and compared between non-sibling groups of ten spiderlings and groups of ten siblings. The number of survivors differed significantly between groups, with consistently fewer spiderlings surviving in the non-sibling groups than the sibling groups over the study period. This result suggests that sibling recognition and nepotism do occur in this subsocial species. The nepotism involved in the maternal social organization of the Coelotes might be an example of a preadaptation facilitating the evolution of permanent social life.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.277-280
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• 2007

Social spiders consistently show highly female-biased sex ratios. However, the sex ratio of subsocial spiders, which have been suggested as an intermediate stage of the evolutionary pathway towards permanent sociality, is generally unknown. We investigated the sex ratio and approximate date of fertilization of the subsocial spider, Amaurobius ferox Walckenaer (Araneae: Amaurobiidae). Investigation over 2 years revealed that sex ratio of A. ferox was consistent across years and averaged 0.49. By early May $(1^{st}{\sim}10^{th})$, 66.6% of female A. ferox observed in the field had already been inseminated, and by late May $(21^{st}{\sim}31^{th})$, 95.4% of females had been inseminated. This result suggests that A. ferox need a long time or cold temperatures to prepare them for reproduction after the developmental attainment of the adult stage.

• 한국동물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국동물학회 2001년도 한국생물과학협회 학술발표대회
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• pp.114.3-115
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• 2001

No Abstract, See Full Text

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.33-39
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• 2009

Brood caring behavior was observed in Amaurobius ferox (Araneae, Amaurobiidae), a semelparous subsocial spider, from cocoon construction until the emergence of spiderlings from the cocoon. Unlike most spiders, which emerge from cocoon by their own means, A. ferox mothers intervene in the process of the emergence of their young. I manipulated broods by removing the mother prior to emergence to determine the effects of maternal behavior on the emergence of spiderlings. My results showed that maternal intervention making the cocoon expansion and its exit, is not absolutely necessary for the emergence of A. ferox spiderlings from the cocoon. Nine clutches out of ten were able to get out of the cocoon by their own means without their mother's help. There was no difference between control groups ('with mother') and experimental groups ('without mother') in the number of spiderlings that emerged ($96.9{\pm}25.3$ vs. $90.4{\pm}14.2$, respectfully) and in the time from the beginning to the end of emergence ($36{\pm}12$ vs. $41{\pm}17$ hours). Time from eclosion until the emergence of the first individual in a clutch, however, was greater in the mother-absent group (3.5 days) than in the control group (2.0 days). The construction of the cocoon by the mother required always occurred in the same area within the retreat, and took approximately 6 hours, and the mother guarded the eggs during the incubation period. The emergence of the spiderlings followed a sigmoidal pattern. After emergence, the spiderlings formed a very compact group on the cocoon, which may be important in securing maternal care. The absence of cribellum and calamistrum, structures likely involved in their survival, observed in individuals of the first instar suggests that in the first stage of life, the spiderlings are dependent on their mother.