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Liu J, Liu K, Tang Y, Wang W, Xu X, Liang J, Xiao Y, Elgar MA. Females adopt sexual catalepsy to facilitate mating. Curr Zool 2024; 70:174-181. [PMID: 38726244 PMCID: PMC11078043 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoad010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Theory predicts that males and females of dioecious species typically engage in an evolutionary sexual conflict over the frequency and choice of mating partner. Female sexual cannibalism, a particularly dramatic illustration of this conflict, is widespread in certain animal taxa including spiders. Nevertheless, females of some funnel weaving spiders that are generally aggressive to conspecifics enter a cataleptic state after male courtship, ensuring the males can mate without risk of attack. In this study, we demonstrated that the physical posture and duration, metabolites, and central neurotransmitters of females of Aterigena aculeata in sexual catalepsy closely resemble females in thanatosis but are distinct from those in anesthesia, indicating that the courted females feign death to eliminate the risk of potentially aggressive responses and thereby allow preferred males to mate. Unlike the taxonomically widespread thanatosis, which generally represents a deceptive visual signal that acts against the interest of the receivers, sexual catalepsy of females in the funnel weaving spiders may deliver a sexual-receptive signal to the courting males and thereby benefit both the signal senders and receivers. Therefore, sexual catalepsy in A. aculeata may not reflect a conflict but rather a confluence of interest between the sexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jihe Liu
- College of Life Sciences, Jinggangshan University, Ji’an, Jiangxi 343009, China
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Keke Liu
- College of Life Sciences, Jinggangshan University, Ji’an, Jiangxi 343009, China
| | - Yu Tang
- Pharmaceutical Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Weihua Wang
- Pharmaceutical Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Xiang Xu
- College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, China
| | - Jianhui Liang
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Yonghong Xiao
- College of Life Sciences, Jinggangshan University, Ji’an, Jiangxi 343009, China
| | - Mark A Elgar
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
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State and physiology behind personality in arthropods: a review. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03259-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
AbstractIn the endeavour to understand the causes and consequences of the variation in animal personality, a wide range of studies were carried out, utilising various aspects to make sense of this biological phenomenon. One such aspect integrated the study of physiological traits, investigating hypothesised physiological correlates of personality. Although many of such studies were carried out on vertebrates (predominantly on birds and mammals), studies using arthropods (mainly insects) as model organisms were also at the forefront of this area of research. In order to review the current state of knowledge on the relationship between personality and the most frequently studied physiological parameters in arthropods, we searched for scientific articles that investigated this relationship. In our review, we only included papers utilising a repeated-measures methodology to be conceptually and formally concordant with the study of animal personality. Based on our literature survey, metabolic rate, thermal physiology, immunophysiology, and endocrine regulation, as well as exogenous agents (such as toxins) were often identified as significant affectors shaping animal personality in arthropods. We found only weak support for state-dependence of personality when the state is approximated by singular elements (or effectors) of condition. We conclude that a more comprehensive integration of physiological parameters with condition may be required for a better understanding of state’s importance in animal personality. Also, a notable knowledge gap persists in arthropods regarding the association between metabolic rate and hormonal regulation, and their combined effects on personality. We discuss the findings published on the physiological correlates of animal personality in arthropods with the aim to summarise current knowledge, putting it into the context of current theory on the origin of animal personality.
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Kiyose K, Katsuki M, Suzaki Y, Okada K, Okada Y. Octopaminergic system orchestrates combat and mating behaviors: A potential regulator of alternative male mating tactics in an armed beetle. JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY 2021; 131:104211. [PMID: 33662374 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2021.104211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Revised: 02/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Male-male combats over females and territories are widespread across animal taxa. The winner of a combat gains resources, while the loser suffers significant costs (e.g. time, energy and injury) without gaining resources. Many animals have evolved behavioral flexibility, depending on their nutritional condition and experience, to avoid combat in order to reduce such costs. In these cases, male aggression often correlates with mating behavior changes, that is, the deployment of alternative reproductive tactics. Therefore, uncovering the physiological mechanism that orchestrates combat and mating behaviors is essential to understand the evolution of alternative mating tactics. However, so far, our knowledge is limited to specific behaviors (i.e., fighting or mating) of specific model species. In this study, we used an armed beetle (Gnatocerus cornutus) and hypothesized that one of the key neuromodulators of invertebrate aggression, octopamine (OA), would control male combat and other mating behaviors. Using receptor agonists (chlordimeform and benzimidazole), we showed that the octopaminergic (OAergic) system down-regulated the combat and courtship behaviors, while it up-regulated locomotor activity and sperm size. This suggests that the OAergic system orchestrates a suite of fighting and mating behaviors, thereby implying that correlated behavioral responses to OAergic signaling may have driven the evolution of alternative mating tactics in this beetle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katsuya Kiyose
- Seibukasei Co., Ltd., Yamato-machi 1-12-24, Shimonoseki-shi, Yamaguchi 750-0067, Japan
| | - Masako Katsuki
- Laboratory of Applied Entomology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan
| | - Yû Suzaki
- Technical Research Institute, Obayashi Corporation, 4-640, Shimokiyoto, Kiyose, Tokyo 204-8558, Japan
| | - Kensuke Okada
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology, Graduate School of Environmental Science, Okayama University, Tsushima-naka 111, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
| | - Yasukazu Okada
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Minami-ohsawa 1-1, Hachiohji, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan.
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Nakata K. Association between external female genital mutilation and securing paternity in a spider. Ethology 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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DiRienzo N, Aonuma H. Individual differences are consistent across changes in mating status and mediated by biogenic amines. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2345-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Abstract
There is a tension between the conception of cognition as a central nervous system (CNS) process and a view of cognition as extending towards the body or the contiguous environment. The centralised conception requires large or complex nervous systems to cope with complex environments. Conversely, the extended conception involves the outsourcing of information processing to the body or environment, thus making fewer demands on the processing power of the CNS. The evolution of extended cognition should be particularly favoured among small, generalist predators such as spiders, and here, we review the literature to evaluate the fit of empirical data with these contrasting models of cognition. Spiders do not seem to be cognitively limited, displaying a large diversity of learning processes, from habituation to contextual learning, including a sense of numerosity. To tease apart the central from the extended cognition, we apply the mutual manipulability criterion, testing the existence of reciprocal causal links between the putative elements of the system. We conclude that the web threads and configurations are integral parts of the cognitive systems. The extension of cognition to the web helps to explain some puzzling features of spider behaviour and seems to promote evolvability within the group, enhancing innovation through cognitive connectivity to variable habitat features. Graded changes in relative brain size could also be explained by outsourcing information processing to environmental features. More generally, niche-constructed structures emerge as prime candidates for extending animal cognition, generating the selective pressures that help to shape the evolving cognitive system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hilton F Japyassú
- Biology Institute, Federal University of Bahia, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo s/n, Campus de Ondina, Salvador, Bahia, 40170-115, Brazil.
- Centre for Biodiversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Harold Mitchell Building, St Andrews, Fife, UK, KY16 9TH.
| | - Kevin N Laland
- Centre for Biodiversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Harold Mitchell Building, St Andrews, Fife, UK, KY16 9TH
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Gilbert R, Karp RD, Uetz GW. Effects of juvenile infection on adult immunity and secondary sexual characters in a wolf spider. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arv241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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