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that while females made predicted choices when male
traits covaried positively, in negative covariance (cue-
conflict) choice tests, females showed a bias for higher
male quality in visual signals. Female wolf spiders
therefore appear to exhibit comparative mate evalua-
tion of individual signal modes in multimodal signals,
and assess male quality among potential suitors.
Keywords: behavior, communication, vibratory signals,
video playback, Lycosidae
Oral presentation
Securing paternity by mutilating female
genitalia in spiders
Gabriele Uhl, Pierick Mouginot, Philip O. M. Steinhoff
University of Greifswald, Zoological Institute and
Museum, General and Systematic Zoology, Germany
gabriele.uhl@uni-greifswald.deCompetition between males and their sperm over access to
females and their eggs has resulted in manifold ways by
which males try to secure paternity, ranging from physi-
cally guarding the female after mating to reducing her
receptivity or her attractiveness to subsequent males by
transferring manipulative substances or by mechanically
sealing the female reproductive tract with a copulatory
plug. Copulations may also result in internal damage
of the female genitalia; however, this is not considered
as a direct adaptation against sperm competition but as
a collateral effect. Here, we present a drastic and direct
mechanism for securing paternity: the removal of coupling
structures on female genitalia by males. In the orb-weav-
ing spider
Larinia jeskovi
males remove the scapus, a
crucial coupling device on the female external genital
region. Reconstruction of the coupling mechanism using
micro-CT-scanned mating pairs revealed that several scler-
ites of the male genitalia interact to break off the scapus.
Once it is removed, remating cannot occur due to mechan-
ical coupling difficulties. In the field, male-inflicted genital
damage is very prevalent since all female
L. jeskovi
were
found to be mutilated at the end of the mating season.
External genital mutilation is an overlooked but widely
spread phenomenon since 80 additional spider species
were found for which male genital manipulation can be
suspected. Interlocking genitalia provide an evolutionary
platform for the rapid evolution of this highly effective
mechanism to secure paternity, and we suspect that other
animal groups with interlocking genital structures might
reveal similarly drastic male adaptations.
Keywords: sexual selection, conflict, securing paternity,
functional morphology of genitalia
Oral presentation
A molecular phylogenetic approach to the
New Zealand species of Enantiobuninae
(Opiliones: Eupnoi : Neopilionidae)
Sebastián Vélez
1,2
, Rosa Fernández
2
, Gonzalo Giribet
2
1
Biology Department, Worcester State University,
Worcester, Massachusetts, USA;
2
Museum of Com-
parative Zoology, Department of Organismic and
Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford
Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
svelez@worcester.eduWe report the first phylogeny based on molecular data for
the New Zealand species in the genera
Forsteropsalis, Pan-
topsalis
, and
Mangatangi
, and comment on the taxonomic
implications of our results, including the diagnostic viability
of important morphological characters. Members of the New
Zealand Enantiobuninae constitute some of the most char-
ismatic soil arthropods of the archipelago, and a striking
example of sexual dimorphism, with nondescript females but
colourful males boasting exaggerated chelicerae many times
longer than their bodies. The genera
Forsteropsalis
and
Pantopsalis
recently underwent revision, but many questions
remained about the validity of many species designations,
due to issues of characters of dubious taxonomic value,
female specimens designated as holotypes despite the males
holding all the diagnostic characters, and the suspected pres-
ence of more than one male form within some species. We
present the first molecular phylogenetic study of the group,
including extensive sampling of fresh material across New
Zealand. Our results reject the controversial monophyly of
Neopilionidae and comment on the taxonomic implications
of the results, including the diagnostic validity of mor-
phological characters traditionally used on the groups.
Keywords: Opiliones, Australia, biogeography, phylogeny
194
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE
REPORTS
|
No. 3, July 2, 2016
Cushing