The difference in activity levels between adult male and female spiders has been attributed to a more sexually motivated searching behavior by males, but the possibility that females reduce their activity when they reach maturity has not been considered, which may be evaluated by comparing adults and late instar juveniles behavior. We recorded the displacements during 15 min periods for 137 males, females and juveniles of Ctenus amphora and C. crulsi, two similar-sized syntopic hunting spiders species which search for prey on the leaf litter in central Amazonian tropical rainforests. For both species, males were significantly more active than females and juveniles. Ctenus amphora females were less active than juveniles, but the C. crulsi female activity did not differ from the juvenile activity. There were no significant differences in activity between these species for males and females, but the juveniles of C. amphora where more active than the juveniles of C. crulsi. Therefore, differences in activity between sexes are not always restricted to changes in male behavior, and the degree of decrease in female activity may depend on how active juveniles are.
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1 August 2001
SHORT COMMUNICATION DIFFERENCES IN THE ACTIVITY OF JUVENILES, FEMALES AND MALES OF TWO HUNTING SPIDERS OF THE GENUS CTENUS (ARANEAE, CTENIDAE): ACTIVE MALES OR INACTIVE FEMALES?
Fabiola M. D. Salvestrini,
Thierry R. Gasnier
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