The cannibal spiders do not hunt for siblings, even when they starve. However, their name is justified
Researchers examined the cannibalistic tendencies at the maze desert (Agelena Labyrinthica). As it turned out, this species of spider is ready to feed on their siblings only in one case.
The latest research conducted at Agelena Labyrinthica shows that young spiders of this species communicate as part of siblings and give up hunting for the closest individuals. They only eat the remains of dead brothers and sisters.
Researchers examined the cannibalistic tendencies of the funnels. What did they discover?
Labyrinthian lejkowce living throughout Europe spend most of their lives in loneliness, feeding on small insects and – when the circumstances allow it – including other representatives of their species. However, they can distinguish their siblings, with which they can even share one cobweb at a young age.
Research results on this subject are described in the “Animal Behaviour” magazine in April this year. The young spiders described here were tested – they were deprived of food and checked whether they would turn against other spiders. It turned out that they refrained from attacking siblings to the end, deciding to eat it only after the death of a given individual.
“Spiders, even when they starve, can maintain high tolerance for their siblings. With strong signals preventing cannibalism,” wrote the authors of the Antoine Lempereur and Raphaël Jeanson from the University of Toulouse and Center National De la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in an email to Live Science.
Labyrinthic funnels live in networks, creating complex tunnel systems or mazes. Females in the central chamber lay eggs, from which up to 130 young people are hatched for summer. Small spiders remain on the web with their mother all the winter to leave the maze in spring.
Experiment on spiders. They refrained from cannibalism
Young spiders initially feed on the food from the eggs in which they are born. They are also able to eat a mother if she dies. Already a few days after hatching they can also catch a fly, so from the beginning they are able to hunt.
Researchers collected funnel eggs and divided them into groups. Some spiders lived in total loneliness as part of the experiment, others in groups of four. Those growing up in the group were definitely less aggressive towards siblings, sending and reading “social signals”.
Interestingly, all individuals decided to eat dead spiders in just an hour of their death, even if they had tolerated other representatives of their species for weeks.
