Exploring a novel substrate‐borne vibratory signal in the wolf spider Schizocosa floridana

The influence of temperature on courtship and mate choice in a wolf spider: implications for mating success in variable environments

The selection of animal signal form often changes significantly with the environment, yet signal form may be environment-dependent. Little is known about how variation in individual responses to changing environments affects the relationship between selection and the subsequent evolution of signal traits. To address this question, we assess the effects of variation in temperature on individual signaling and mating behavior responses across temperatures in the wolf spider Schizocosa floridana. By running repeated-measures trials, we find that temperature has predictable effects on signal form, but that the performance of individual courters is not consistent across temperatures. Traits associated with courtship rate generally increase at higher temperatures but inter-individual consistency in response to temperature change is low, despite consistent female preferences for increased courtship rate at all temperatures. Interestingly, the production of the likely most recently evolved signal component, the chirp, is consistent within signalers and predicts male performance across temperatures. Despite this, female preferences for chirp duration appear only at higher temperatures. Taken together, our results suggest that individual courter responses to changing temperatures have the potential to dampen or eliminate patterns of selection that are evident across temperatures. We discuss these results in light of current research on mating behavior and sexual selection.

A female mimic signal type in the vibrational repertoire of male Enchenopa treehoppers

Animals vary in the complexity and size of the signal repertoire used in communication. Often, these behavioural repertoires include multiple signal types for the same process, for instance, courtship. In Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae) mate-searching males produce plant-borne vibrational advertisement signals. Receptive females then respond to males with their own signals. Here we describe an additional signal type in the repertoire of these males. We collected nymphs in Wisconsin, USA, and recorded the spontaneous signalling bouts of adult males and duetting signals of females using laser vibrometry. Two-thirds of males produced the additional signal type, which differed in temporal and spectral features from the main male advertisement signals, whilst resembling female duetting signals in placement and acoustic features. Our findings suggest that this might be a female mimic signal. Overall, our findings highlight the diversity in the behavioural repertoire that animals may use for reproduction.

Phylogeny and secondary sexual trait evolution in Schizocosa wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) shows evidence for multiple gains and losses of ornamentation and species delimitation uncertainty

Members of the Nearctic spider genus Schizocosa Chamberlin, 1904 have garnered much attention in behavioral studies and over many decades, a number of species have developed as model systems for investigating patterns of sexual selection and multimodal communication. Many of these studies have employed a comparative approach using putative, but not rigorously tested, sister species pairs that have distinctive morphological traits and attendant behaviors. Despite past emphasis on the efficacy of these presumably comparative-based studies of closely related species, generating a robust phylogenetic hypothesis for Schizocosa has been an ongoing challenge. Here, we apply a phylogenomic approach using anchored hybrid enrichment to generate a data set comprising over 400 loci representing a comprehensive taxonomic sample of 23 Nearctic Schizocosa. Our sampling also includes numerous outgroup lycosid genera that allow for a robust evaluation of genus monophyly. Based on analyses using concatenation and coalescent-based methods, we recover a well-supported phylogeny that infers the following: 1) The New World Schizocosa do not form a monophyletic group; 2) Previous hypotheses of North American species require reconsideration along with the composition of species groups; 3) Multiple longstanding model species are not genealogically exclusive and thus are not "good" species; 4) This updated phylogenetic framework establishes a new working paradigm for studying the evolution of characters associated with reproductive communication and mating. Ancestral character state reconstructions show a complex pattern of homoplasy that has likely obfuscated previous attempts to reconstruct relationships and delimit species. Important characters presumably related to sexual selection, such as foreleg pigmentation and dense bristle formation, have undergone repeated gain and loss events, many of which have led to increased morphological divergence between sister-species. Evaluation of these traits in a comparative framework illuminates how sexual selection and natural selection influence character evolution and provides a model for future studies of multimodal communication evolution and function.

Evolutionary novelty in communication between the sexes

The diversity of signalling traits within and across taxa is vast and striking, prompting us to consider how novelty evolves in the context of animal communication. Sexual selection contributes to diversification, and here we endeavour to understand the initial conditions that facilitate the maintenance or elimination of new sexual signals and receiver features. New sender and receiver variants can occur through mutation, plasticity, hybridization and cultural innovation, and the initial conditions of the sender, the receiver and the environment then dictate whether a novel cue becomes a signal. New features may arise in the sender, the receiver or both simultaneously. We contend that it may be easier than assumed to evolve new sexual signals because sexual signals may be arbitrary, sexual conflict is common and receivers are capable of perceiving much more of the world than just existing sexual signals. Additionally, changes in the signalling environment can approximate both signal and receiver changes through a change in transmission characteristics of a given environment or the use of new environments. The Anthropocene has led to wide-scale disruption of the environment and may thus generate opportunity to directly observe the evolution of new signals to address questions that are beyond the reach of phylogenetic approaches.