Male wolf spiders that engage in a complex “dance” performance when they encounter a receptive female are more successful in courtship, a new study has found.
Across the animal kingdom, creatures have evolved intricate rituals to win over mates, ranging from elaborate dances of birds-of-paradise to the geometric seafloor-sculpting of the white-spotted pufferfish.
In new research, published in the journal Biology Letters, scientists, including those form the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the US, found that male wolf spiders (Schizocosa stridulans) encountering a receptive female would unleash an “appendage-scraping, abdomen-quivering, leg-tapping” performance.
