Vibratory communication through living plants by a tropical wandering spider.

Female Cupiennius salei pheromone on banana and Agave plants elicits patterned oscillations by the male. Resulting pulse trains of vibrations through the leaf average 76 hertz. The brief vibratory response by the otherwise immobile female hidden up to at least 1 meter away on another leaf guides the male across the plant to her location. Reciprocal signaling continues in the presence of random noise that masks the male's airborne sounds.

Copulation in spiders: experimental evidence for fatigue effects and bilateral control of palpal insertions.

Male lycosid spiders were prevented from using one palp during the first third of copulation by a sling that we then cut to free the palp. Initial insertion durations of the treated palp were significantly shorter than those shown concurrently by the much-used normal palp; they showed temporal patterning unaffected by use of the normal palp. Data indicate that there are relatively independent control mechanisms for each palp and support the hypothesis that fatigue causes the increased duration of successive palpal insertions. Our data also suggest that normal matings terminate due to maximal use of either palp by the male.

Maternal behavior in wolf spiders: the role of abdominal hairs.

Newly emerged, juvenile wolf spiders do not settle on clothed or shaved areas of their mother's abdomen until after a period of days. Spiny, knobbed hairs, peculiar to adult female lycosids, apparently provide the stimulus and means for attachment by the inner layer of spiderlings. Innervated long, smooth hairs are mechanoreceptors which probably serve in other aspects of brood care.

Copulation and sperm induction by normal and palpless male linyphiid spiders.

The performance by palpless male linyphiid spiders of behaviors associated with copulation and sperm induction indicates that occurrence of these sexual activities does not depend on peripheral input from the palps.

Courtship in Spiders without Prior Sperm Induction.

Experiments with a lycosid spider demonstrated that courtship behavior is displayed by males independently of whether sperm induction had occurred following the final molt. Contrary to earlier suggestions, proprioceptive feedback from sperm-filled palps is not essential for the onset of reproductive display.