Differences in sexual behaviour of two distant populations of the funnel-web wolf spider Aglaoctenus lagotis

GONZÁLEZ, M.; PERETTI, A. V.; VIERA, C.; COSTA, F. G.

JOURNAL OF ETHOLOGY

SPRINGER TOKYO

Lugar: Tokyo; Año: 2013 vol. 31 p. 175 - 184

0289-0771

Generally, sexual repertoire within a species isconserved, but frequencies of occurrence of sexual behavioralacts often vary, and wide geographic distributions mayfavor these variations. Aglaoctenus lagotis is distributedalong South America and belongs to Sosippinae, a subfamilyof wolf spiders that builds funnel webs. Previousreports, based on different populations, suggested variationsin sexual behavior and life cycle. Our objective was todescribe and compare the sexual behavior of two populationsof A. lagotis: ?Southern Uruguay? (SU) and ?CentralArgentina? (CA). We carried out intrapopulation trials, inthe laboratory, with 15 female?male pair matings. The mostrepresentative courtship acts in SU were web-stretching,striding-forward and forelegs-elevating, whereas in CAthey were alternate-waving, web-stretching and leg-tapping.Juddering, forelegs-elevating and striding-forwardwere exclusive for SU, while alternate-waving and simultaneous-waving were exclusive for CA. We also founddifferences in copulatory characteristics such as frequenciesof insertions and ejaculations. We documented body-shakingduring copulation for the first time. Some sexual actswere exclusive of each population, while the shared onesdiffered in pattern and frequencies of occurrence. In additionto variations in sexual periods, these differences mayfavor divergence processes or an exceptional high level offlexibility in the sexual behavior of A. lagotis.