Sunday 7 April 2019

The most aggressive spider societies are not always the ones that flourish



Date:  March 25, 2019
Source:  McMaster University
Evolutionary biologists at McMaster University who study the social lives and behaviour of colony spiders -- some of which are docile, others aggressive -- have found that the success of their cooperative societies depend on their neighbours.
The research, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, sheds new light on the evolution of animal groups that organize and hunt together.
"Consider the coordinated attacks of prides of lions or wolves, or the dazzling swirling behaviour of starlings or schools of sardines," says Jonathan Pruitt, an evolutionary biologist and Canada 150 Chair in the McMaster's Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour.
"These societies are able to organize and execute strategies that cannot be produced by single individuals. We wanted to see if the collective traits that enable success might depend on the traits of neighboring groups."
Researchers set out to better understand successful collective hunting practices by studying the African social spider Stegodyphus dumicola (S. dumicola). While colonies of S. dumicola do not compete with one another face to face, a single plant may be home to several colonies, resulting in increased competition for flying prey.

No comments:

Post a Comment

You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

ShareThis