SPIDERS- Mating Dance

In the Sonoran desert of the American Southwest, the summer rains have arrived bringing a season of activity for the species that live here. One of these is a group of spiders who give new meaning to the word ‘Jitterbug.’ I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

Fred Singer is an Associate Professor of Biology at Radford University. He tells us that this is mating season for the Agelenopsis Aperta spider.

“Until they become sexually mature the males females have pretty much equivalent life experiences. But then they become adults, the males and females suddenly diverge in what they do in that the females continue being very interested in feeding. The males on the other hand, maybe about a week after they mature, they’ll leave their web and start searching for females.”

Once he finds a female, the male spider courts her with a special mating dance that can last up to an hour.

“They’re really two major steps. One of them’s an abdomen waggle, where the male sways from side to side and at the same time he’s pounding two organs that are coming out of his head that actually he uses for introducing sperm; he pounds them on the web and he sways his abdomen and wanders around on the web. The other step that’s involved in a series of push ups. He’ll push his body up and he’ll vibrate it as he pushes it up and then he’ll set it back down, push it up, vibrate, set it down. And he keeps on going back and forth between the steps.”

Scientists aren’t sure exactly what role this dance plays in the courtship process, but it may be that female spiders choose males partly on the basis of how can fast they waggle their abdomen.

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

SPIDERS- Mating Dance

This month, a group of male spiders will try to seduce their mates with a courtship dance- and this time, it may be their last.
Air Date:08/16/1999
Scientist:
Transcript:

In the Sonoran desert of the American Southwest, the summer rains have arrived bringing a season of activity for the species that live here. One of these is a group of spiders who give new meaning to the word 'Jitterbug.' I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

Fred Singer is an Associate Professor of Biology at Radford University. He tells us that this is mating season for the Agelenopsis Aperta spider.

"Until they become sexually mature the males females have pretty much equivalent life experiences. But then they become adults, the males and females suddenly diverge in what they do in that the females continue being very interested in feeding. The males on the other hand, maybe about a week after they mature, they'll leave their web and start searching for females."

Once he finds a female, the male spider courts her with a special mating dance that can last up to an hour.

"They're really two major steps. One of them's an abdomen waggle, where the male sways from side to side and at the same time he's pounding two organs that are coming out of his head that actually he uses for introducing sperm; he pounds them on the web and he sways his abdomen and wanders around on the web. The other step that's involved in a series of push ups. He'll push his body up and he'll vibrate it as he pushes it up and then he'll set it back down, push it up, vibrate, set it down. And he keeps on going back and forth between the steps."

Scientists aren't sure exactly what role this dance plays in the courtship process, but it may be that female spiders choose males partly on the basis of how can fast they waggle their abdomen.

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.