Data from: Frequent misdirected courtship in a natural community of colorful Habronattus jumping spiders

Male courtship display is common in many animals; in some cases, males engage in courtship indiscriminately, spending significant time and energy courting heterospecifics with whom they have no chance of mating or producing viable offspring. Due to high costs and few if any benefits, we might expect mechanisms to evolve to reduce such misdirected courtship (or ‘reproductive interference’). In Habronattus jumping spiders, males frequently court heterospecifics with whom they do not mate or hybridize; females are larger and are voracious predators, posing a severe risk to males who court indiscriminately. In this study, we examined patterns of misdirected courtship in a natural community of four sympatric Habronattus species (H. clypeatus, H. hallani, H. hirsutus, and H. pyrrithrix). We used direct field observations to weigh support for two hypotheses (differential microhabitat use and species recognition signaling) to explain how these species reduce the costs associated with misdirected courtship. We show that, while the four species of Habronattus do show some differences in microhabitat use, all four species still overlap substantially, and in three of the four species individuals equally encountered heterospecifics and conspecifics. Males courted females at every opportunity, regardless of species, and in some cases, this led to aggression and predation by the female. These results suggest that, while differences in microhabitat use might reduce misdirected courtship to some extent, co-existence of these four species may be possible due to complex communication (i.e. species-specific elements of a male’s courtship display). This is the first study to examine misdirected courtship in jumping spiders. Studies of misdirected courtship and its consequences in the field are limited and may broaden our understanding of how biodiversity is maintained within a community.

求偶展示（courtship display）在诸多动物类群中普遍存在；部分类群的雄性会不分对象地开展求偶行为，耗费大量时间与能量向异种个体（heterospecifics）求偶——此类个体与雄性既无交配可能，亦无法产生可存活后代。鉴于此类行为代价高昂且收益甚微，我们可预期演化会产生相应机制以减少这类误导向求偶（或称‘生殖干扰（reproductive interference）’）现象。在哈氏跳蛛属（Habronattus）跳蛛（jumping spiders）中，该类群雄性常向无法与之交配或杂交的异种个体求偶；雌性体型更大且为肉食性捕食者，对不分对象求偶的雄性构成严重生存威胁。本研究针对自然群落中4种同域分布的哈氏跳蛛属物种（H. clypeatus、H. hallani、H. hirsutus及H. pyrrithrix）的误导向求偶模式展开系统调查。研究通过直接野外观察，对两种用以解释该类群如何降低误导向求偶代价的假说——微生境利用分化（differential microhabitat use）与物种识别信号（species recognition signaling）——进行了支持度评估。结果显示，尽管4种哈氏跳蛛在微生境利用上存在一定差异，但它们的生境重叠度仍较高；且在其中3个物种中，个体遭遇同种个体（conspecifics）与异种个体的概率相当。雄性会抓住一切机会向雌性求偶，无论雌性所属物种；在部分场景中，此类行为会引发雌性的攻击甚至捕食行为。上述结果表明，尽管微生境利用差异可在一定程度上减少误导向求偶行为，但这4个物种得以共存，或得益于复杂的通讯机制——即雄性求偶展示中的物种特异性特征。本研究是首个针对跳蛛误导向求偶行为的专项调查。目前针对野外环境下误导向求偶行为及其后果的研究仍较为匮乏，此类研究或可加深我们对群落内生物多样性（biodiversity）维持机制的认知。