Data from: 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 for strong sexual selection on males in this system, with
success contingent upon a combination of visual and vibratory displays.
Additionally, independently produced, yet correlated suites of multi-modal
male signals are linked to other aspects of female peacock spider
behavior. Lastly, our data provide some support for both the redundant
signal and multiple messages hypotheses for the evolution of multi-modal
signaling.