Data from: Floral spatial morphological characteristics preferences facilitate mating and predation in flower-visiting spiders

Numerous flower visitors exhibit varying preferences for floral
characteristics. As one group of flower visitors, the preferences of
spiders for flower colour have garnered attention; however, their
preferences for the spatial morphological characteristics of flowers
remain largely unexplored. This study investigated the preferences of
flower-visiting crab spiders Ebrechtella tricuspidata for flower
size, petal density, and symmetry, and explored the underlying
reasons from the courtship and predation. The results indicated
that male spiders preferred larger flowers, while females favored densely
petaled flowers and symmetrical flowers. Additionally, males exhibited a
stronger preference for females that sitting on larger flowers than on
smaller ones. Furthermore, consistent with spider preferences, the
potential prey houseflies and honeybees, also showed a significant
preference for larger, densely petaled, and symmetrical flowers in
visitation experiments. We propose that prey preferences for
floral characteristics may be a primary factor influencing spider
preferences. We hypothesize that the flower
characteristics influence insect visitation preferences, which
may extend to third trophic level predators, thereby determining
the preferences of flower-visiting spiders. Overall, our research provided
new insights and evidence regarding spider preferences for floral
characteristics, emphasizing that these preferences may facilitate both
predation and mating in spiders.