title: Jewelled spiders manipulate colour-lure geometry to deceive prey.
abstract: Selection is expected to favour the evolution of efficacy in visual communication. This extends to deceptive systems, and predicts functional links between the structure of visual signals and their behavioural presentation. Work to date has primarily focused on colour, however, thereby understating the multicomponent nature of visual signals. Here I examined the relationship between signal structure, presentation behaviour, and efficacy in the context of colour-based prey luring. I used the polymorphic orb-web spiderGasteracantha fornicata, whose yellow- or white-and-black striped dorsal colours have been broadly implicated in prey attraction. In a manipulative assay, I found that spiders actively control the orientation of their conspicuous banded signals in the web, with a distinct preference for near-diagonal bearings. Further field-based study identified a predictive relationship between pattern orientation and prey interception rates, with a local maximum at the spiders' preferred orientation. There were no morph-specific effects on capture success, either singularly or via an interaction with pattern orientation. These results reveal a dynamic element in a traditionally 'static' signalling context, and imply differential functions for chromatic and geometric signal components across visual contexts. More broadly, they underscore how multicomponent signal designs and display behaviours may coevolve to enhance efficacy in visual deception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia thomas.white026@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3976-1734
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D003116:Color; D005260:Female; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D011793:Queensland; D013112:Spiders / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Gasteracantha; communication; deception; multicomponent signal; orb-web