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Wolf Spider Predation

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ABSTRACT
In “Cautious versus desperado males: predation risk affects courtship intensity but not female choice in a wolf spider” the courtship displays of the wolf spider, Pardosa milvina were investigated. The wolf spider’s courtship display in males includes raising their legs and shaking their bodies. The rate of a males’ leg raises is a signal of the assets the male has, females that mate with males with quicker leg raises had more progeny and these left the egg sac faster and lived longer. Rypstra et al. wanted to determine if male wolf spiders that differ in assets and quality would behave differently under the risk of predation and wondered if the differences in reactions would affect how females choose their mates. This study consisted of two experiments, in the first experiment they determined that the symmetry of the front legs of males was related to their rate of leg raises, this was used as a measure of male quality. They used this measure in the second experiment when they explored how Tigrosa helluo predator cues changed the males’ courtship behaviour. It was determined that predation cues did not have an effect on whether mating happened between males and females and a …show more content…

I believe that higher quality males should perform their courtship display at a lower intensity when predator cues are present, while lower quality males should increase their displays. This is because higher quality males’ long term reproductive options are more evident and lower quality males may become “desperados” and showoff whatever assets they have in a desperate attempt to convince a female to mate with them. If females can judge whether a male is of high or low quality then even when there is risk of predation, they will mate with the males that are of higher quality (Rypstra et al.

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