刺近隅蛛雄蛛可通过蛛网识别雌蛛的生殖状态

化学通讯被认为是结网类蜘蛛两性间交流的主要方式,但对结漏斗网蜘蛛两性间的交流方式却少有研究.在了解刺近隅蛛Aterigena aculeata的求偶和交配过程的基础上,验证了处女雌蛛蛛网可以触发雄蛛的求偶行为,表明处女雌蛛蛛网上存在着某种化学物质,即性信息素.继而,将雄蛛置于不同生殖状态的雌蛛蛛网上,发现雄蛛面对处女雌蛛蛛网时的求偶延迟时间最短;已交配雌蛛蛛网也可以引起求偶,但延迟时间较长;而亚成体雌蛛和雄蛛的蛛网均不能触发求偶反应.表明雄性刺近隅蛛可以通过蛛网判断出它靠近的这头蜘蛛是否适合自己进行交配.漏斗蛛和其他结网类蜘蛛类似,化学通讯在两性交流过程中起着非常重要的作用.

A Male Aterigena aculeata Can Differentiate the Reproduction Stage of a Female When Facing the Female Web

Chemical signal is considered to be the most important way of intersexual communication for web-building spiders,but few researches of funnel-web weaving spiders have been done. First,it was tested and verified in this study that courtship behavior of male Aterigena aculeata can be triggered by the intraspecific virgin female web,thus suggesting that some kind of chemical signal should exist in the web of virgin female A. aculeata. Then,male spiders were placed on the webs of subadult females,virgin females or mated females to test which web was the best to trigger male courtship. The result showed that the male courtship latency time was the shortest when the male spider faced a virgin female web,and that male courtship could also be triggered on a mated female web,only with a longer latency time;while the webs of subadult females and males failed to trigger male courtship behavior. It is,therefore,concluded that a male A. aculeata can estimate,via some chemical clue,the reproduction stage of the female it is approaching and select the best (virgin female) as its "wife". Similar to the case of other web weaving spiders,chemical communication plays a key role in the copulatory process of funnel-web spiders.