Abstract Understanding factors affecting male mate choice can be important for tracking the dynamics of sexual selection in nature. Male brown widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus) mate with adult as well as immature (subadult) females. Mating with adults involves costly courtship with a repertoire of signaling behaviors, and typically ends with cannibalism (“self-sacrifice” initiated by male somersault). Mating with subadults involves brief courtship with behavioral repertoire reduced to one component (vibration) and no cannibalism. We examined male mate choice as a function of risks associated with different types of mates and the cues available to courting males. Previous studies showed male preference for adults based on air-borne pheromones, but it was unclear whether that preference is maintained after males reach female’s webs. We show that males prefer adults also based on silk-borne contact cues. To determine which types of cues trigger different courtship components, we swapped adults and subadults between webs. We showed that contact with adult females’ webs triggers two courtship behaviors from the repertoire, with adult female’s bodies triggering additional behaviors. However, vibrational signals occur regardless of the web origin or female developmental stage. We conclude that males recognize subadult females as potential mates, but are more likely to invest in costly courtship behaviors and mating attempts with adults. In our experiments, subadults were less likely to mate than adults. We conclude that mating with adults could be the preferred option for males because of the higher likelihood of copulation, even at the cost of a higher risk of cannibalism.

中文翻译：

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冒险的生意：在食人蜘蛛中，雄性选择更容易接受的成年人而不是更安全的亚成年人

摘要 了解影响男性配偶选择的因素对于追踪自然界中性选择的动态非常重要。雄性棕色寡妇蜘蛛（Latrodectus geometryus）与成年和未成熟（亚成年）雌性交配。与成年人交配涉及昂贵的求爱和一系列信号行为，并且通常以自相残杀（男性翻筋斗发起的“自我牺牲”）结束。与亚成体交配涉及短暂的求爱，行为曲目减少到一个组成部分（振动）并且没有同类相食。我们检查了男性配偶选择作为与不同类型配偶相关的风险和可用于求爱男性的线索的函数。先前的研究表明，基于空气传播的信息素，男性对成年人的偏好，但尚不清楚这种偏好在男性接触到女性的网后是否仍然存在。我们表明男性更喜欢成年人也基于丝绸接触线索。为了确定哪些类型的线索触发了不同的求爱成分，我们在网之间交换了成人和亚成人。我们表明，与成年女性的网接触会触发两种求偶行为，成年女性的身体会触发额外的行为。然而，无论网络起源或女性发育阶段如何，都会发生振动信号。我们得出的结论是，雄性将亚成年雌性视为潜在的配偶，但更有可能投资于昂贵的求爱行为和与成年人的交配尝试。在我们的实验中，亚成体比成体更不可能交配。