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. 2021 Sep 21;11(20):14033-14041.
doi: 10.1002/ece3.8112. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Two sexes respond equally to food restriction in a sexually dimorphic but not body mass dimorphic jumping spider

Qin Li  1 , Jing-Xin Liu  2 , Bing Dong  3 , Rong Xiao  1 , Zhanqi Chen  3
Affiliations

Two sexes respond equally to food restriction in a sexually dimorphic but not body mass dimorphic jumping spider

Qin Li et al. Ecol Evol. .

Abstract

Natural selection favors animals that evolve developmental and behavioral responses that buffer the negative effects of food restrictions. These buffering responses vary both between species and within species. Many studies have shown sex-specific responses to environmental changes, usually in species with sexual size dimorphism (SSD), less found in species with weak or no SSD, which suggests that sizes of different sexes are experiencing different selections. However, previous studies usually investigated development and behavior separately, and the balanced situation where males and females of sexually dimorphic species respond in the same way to food restriction remains little known. Here, we investigated this in Phintelloides versicolor (Salticidae) that presents sexual dimorphism in color and shape but weak SSD. We examined whether food restriction induced the same responses in males and females in development duration, adult body size and weight, daily time allocated to foraging, and hunting. We found food restriction induced similar responses in both sexes: both exhibited longer development duration, smaller adult body size and weight, higher probability of staying outside nests and noticing prey immediately, and higher hunting success. However, there were sexual differences regardless of food condition: females showed faster development, smaller adult body size, higher probability of staying outside of nests, and higher hunting success. These indicated the differential selection on male and female sizes of P. versicolor could be under a balanced situation, where males and females show equal developmental and behavioral plasticity to environmental constraints.

Keywords: fecundity selection; life history traits; sex role; sexual difference; sex‐specific response.

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Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Physical features of Phintelloides versicolor. The juvenile, adult male and adult female of P. versicolor
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Development duration, adult body length and weight under food restriction and sexual differences. (a) Development duration; (b) Adult body length; (c) Adult body weight
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Daily time allocation and hunting behavior under food restriction and sexual differences. (a) The probability of spiders staying out of their nests; (b) The probability of immediately noticing the prey; (c) The latency from noticing to the start of hunting; (d) The probability of successfully subduing the prey
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Age difference in daily time allocation and hunting. (a) The probability of spiders staying out of their nests; (b) The probability of immediately noticing the prey; (c) The latency from noticing to the start of hunting; (d) The probability of successfully subduing the prey
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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