Female preference for multi-modal courtship: multiple signals are important for male mating success in peacock spiders

A long-standing goal for biologists has been to understand how female preferences operate in systems where males have evolved numerous sexually-selected traits. Jumping spiders of the Maratus genus are exceptionally sexually dimorphic in appearance and signaling behavior. Presumably, strong sexual selection by females has played an important role in the evolution of complex signals displayed by males of this group, however, this has not yet been demonstrated. In fact, despite apparent widespread examples of sexual selection in nature, empirical evidence is relatively lacking, especially for species employing multiple modalities for intersexual communication. In order to elucidate whether female preference can explain the evolution of multi-modal signaling traits, we ran a series of mating trials using Maratus volans. We used video recordings and laser vibrometry to characterize, quantify and examine which male courtship traits predict various metrics of mating success. We found evidence...

长期以来，生物学家始终致力于解析雌性偏好如何在雄性演化出诸多性选择性状的系统中发挥作用。孔雀跳蛛属（Maratus）的跳蛛在外观与信号行为上表现出极强的性二态性。据推测，雌性介导的强性选择在该类群雄性所展示的复杂信号的演化过程中发挥了重要作用，但这一推论尚未得到证实。事实上，尽管自然界中存在诸多看似普遍的性选择案例，但相关实证证据仍相对匮乏，尤其是针对那些通过多模态方式进行两性交流的物种。为了阐明雌性偏好是否能够解释多模态信号性状的演化，我们以飞孔雀跳蛛（Maratus volans）为实验对象开展了一系列交配试验。我们采用视频录制与激光测振法（laser vibrometry）对雄性求偶性状进行表征、量化，并分析了哪些求偶性状可预测交配成功率的各项指标。我们的研究发现了相关证据……