Stabilimenta attract unwelcome predators to orb-webs.
Conspicuous behaviour exposes animals to predation; prey-attraction thus often conflicts with antipredator behaviour. The fact that a conspicuous ultraviolet-light reflecting silken structure in the orb-webs of certain spider species, known as a stabilimentum, makes the webs obvious to both prey and predators has been used to argue that spiders benefit from building stabilimenta by attracting prey and/or defending against visually hunting predators. Here, we provide experimental evidence that stabilimenta can act as visual signals that attract web-invading spider-eating predators with acute vision to the webs. We also show that the predators can learn to remember a particular type of stabilimentum. Thus, stabilimentum-building spiders risk a high level of predation by attracting visually hunting predators.
Seah
W K
WK
Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119260.
Li
D
D
D000818:Animals; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013112:Spiders / Q000502:physiology*