ArticleCommunications biology2023
Widow spiders alter web architecture and attractiveness in response to same-sex competition for prey and mates, and predation risk.
Article in Communications biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Phenotypic plasticity in an extended phenotype: the cobweb spiderCurrent zoology · 2026Article
- Glandular quinoline-derivates protect crustacean woodlice from spider predation.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Identification and Seasonal Abundance of Web- and Air-Borne Sex Pheromone Components of Western Black Widow Spiders, Latrodectus hesperus.Journal of chemical ecology · 2025Article
- Starving infecund widow spiders maintain sexual attractiveness and trade off safety for enhanced prey capture.iScience · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Female-female competition in animals has rarely been studied. Responses of females that compete context-dependently for mates and prey, and seek safety from predators, are ideally studied with web-building spiders. Cobwebs possess unique sections for prey capture and safety, which can be quantified. We worked with Steaoda grossa females because their pheromone is known, and adjustments in response to mate competition could be measured. Females exposed to synthetic sex pheromone adjusted their webs, indicating a perception of intra-sexual competition via their sex pheromone. When females sequentially built their webs in settings of low and high intra-sexual competition, they adjusted their webs to increase prey capture and lower predation risk. In settings with strong mate competition, females deposited more contact pheromone components on their webs and accelerated their breakdown to mate-attractant pheromone components, essentially increasing their webs' attractiveness. We show that females respond to sexual, social and natural selection pressures originating from intra-sexual competition.
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Registered trials
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