title: Nutrient intake determines post-maturity molting in the golden orb-web spiderNephila pilipes(Araneae: Araneidae).
abstract: While molting occurs in the development of many animals, especially arthropods, post-maturity molting (PMM, organisms continue to molt after sexual maturity) has received little attention. The mechanism of molting has been studied intensively; however, the mechanism of PMM remains unknown although it is suggested to be crucial for the development of body size. In this study, we investigated factors that potentially induce PMM in the golden orb-web spiderNephila pilipes, which has the greatest degree of sexual dimorphism among terrestrial animals. We manipulated the mating history and the nutrient consumption of the females to examine whether they affect PMM. The results showed that female spiders under low nutrition were more likely to molt as adults, and mating had no significant influence on the occurrence of PMM. Moreover, spiders that underwent PMM lived longer than those that did not and their body sizes were significantly increased. Therefore, we concluded that nutritional condition rather than mating history affect PMM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.|Institute of Biology, Scientific Research Centre, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Novi trg 2, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Ren-Chung
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan frankzsc@gmail.com spider@thu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Shichang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Yi
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hui-Ying
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Dakota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Piorkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chen-Pan
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan frankzsc@gmail.com spider@thu.edu.tw.|Center for Tropical Ecology and Biodiversity, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: I-Min
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7296-5595
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Tso
mesh_terms: D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D018978:Molting; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012741:Sexual Maturation; D013112:Spiders / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D013624:Taiwan
keywords: Arthropod development; Ecdysis; Exoskeleton; Polyandry; Sexual dimorphism