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Evidence for Territorial Behavior in a Burrowing Wolf Spider
Author(s) -
Marshall Samuel D.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1996.tb01101.x
Subject(s) - burrow , wolf spider , spider , predation , ecology , dyad , k nearest neighbors algorithm , range (aeronautics) , home range , geography , habitat , biology , psychology , computer science , social psychology , artificial intelligence , engineering , aerospace engineering
Evidence is presented for territorial behavior in a burrowing wolf spider, Geolycosa xera archboldi McCrone (Araneae, Lycosidae). These spiders live in burrows in the scrub habitats of central Florida, USA. Mean nearest‐neighbor distances repeatedly approximate 30 cm. The constancy of this mean indicates that social spacing may be occurring. A test for perceptual range showed that G. xera can respond to potential prey at distances greater than 30 cm, indicating that the 30‐cm nearest‐neighbor distance does not represent a distance within which larger neighboring burrow‐holders treat smaller neighboring conspecifics as food. Dyadic encounters in field enclosures showed that the distance at which neighbors would not be tolerated was within the observed mean nearest‐neighbor distance. In these experimental tests for territorial behavior, smaller dyad members lost burrows significantly more often than larger dyad members.