Data from: Control of signaling alignment during the dynamic courtship display of a jumping spider

During communication, alignment between signals and sensors can be critical. Signals are often best perceived from specific angles, and sensory systems can also exhibit strong directional biases. However, we know little about how animals establish and maintain such signaling alignment during communication. To investigate this, we characterized the spatial dynamics of visual courtship signaling in the jumping spider Habronattus pyrrithrix. The male performs forward-facing displays involving complex color and movement patterns, with distinct long- and short-range phases. The female views displays with 2 distinct eye types and can only perceive colors and fine patterns of male displays when they are presented in her frontal field of view. Whether and how courtship interactions produce such alignment between male display and female field of view is unknown. We recorded relative positions and orientations of both actors throughout courtship and established the role of each sex in maintaining signaling alignment. Males always oriented their displays toward the female. However, when females were free to move, male displays were consistently aligned with female principal eyes only during short-range courtship. When female position was fixed, signaling alignment consistently occurred during both phases, suggesting that female movement reduces communication efficacy. When female models were experimentally rotated to face away during courtship, males rarely repositioned themselves to re-align their display. However, males were more likely to present certain display elements after females turned to face them. Thus, although signaling alignment is a function of both sexes, males appear to rely on female behavior for effective communication.

在动物通信过程中，信号与感知传感器之间的空间对准往往至关重要。信号通常仅在特定角度下最易被感知，而感知系统本身也可能表现出强烈的方向偏倚。然而，目前学界对动物在通信过程中如何建立并维持此类信号对准的机制仍知之甚少。为探究这一科学问题，我们对跳蛛（Habronattus pyrrithrix）的视觉求偶信号的空间动态特征进行了系统表征。雄性该跳蛛会做出面向前方的求偶展示动作，该动作包含复杂的色彩与运动模式，并分为明确的长距离与短距离两个阶段。雌性拥有两种不同类型的视觉眼型，仅当雄性的展示动作处于其前方视野范围内时，才能感知到雄性展示的色彩与精细图案。目前尚不清楚求偶互动是否以及如何实现雄性展示与雌性视野的精准对准。我们全程记录了求偶过程中雌雄双方的相对位置与朝向，并明确了两性在维持信号对准过程中各自发挥的作用。雄性始终会将自身的展示动作朝向雌性个体。然而，当雌性可自由移动时，雄性的展示仅在短距离求偶阶段才始终与雌性的主眼（principal eyes）保持对准。当雌性位置被固定时，信号对准在两个求偶阶段均始终存在，这表明雌性的移动会降低通信的效能。在实验中，当我们将雌性模型旋转至背对雄性的状态时，雄性极少会重新调整自身位置以重新对准展示动作。但当雌性转身面对雄性时，雄性更有可能展示特定的求偶动作元素。综上可见，尽管信号对准依赖于两性的共同作用，但雄性似乎主要依赖雌性的行为来实现有效的通信。