| Title: | Pheromone communication among sexes of the garden cross spider Araneus diadematus |
| Author(s): | Fischer A; Schulz S; Ayasse M; Uhl G; |
| Address: | "Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Genomics University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein Allee 11, 89081, Ulm, Germany. afischer@sfu.ca. Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. afischer@sfu.ca. Institute of Organic Chemistry, Technische Universitat Braunschweig, Hagenring 30, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany. Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Genomics University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein Allee 11, 89081, Ulm, Germany. General and Systematic Zoology, Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Loitzer Strasse 26, 17487, Greifswald, Germany" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00114-021-01747-9 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1432-1904 (Electronic) 0028-1042 (Print) 0028-1042 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Chemical communication plays a fundamental role in many aspects of an animal's life from assessing habitat quality to finding mating partners. Behavioural observations show that chemical communication likewise plays an important role in spiders, but the contexts and the substances involved are little explored. Here, we investigate the chemical communication in the garden cross spider Araneus diadematus (Clerck, 1757) between and within the sexes. Using choice trials, we demonstrate that males are attracted to odours of adult females, but not to those of subadult females. Our data further suggest that adult females avoid odours of conspecific adult females, possibly in order to reduce reproductive competition with other females. Cuticle and silk extracts as well as headspace samples of subadult and adult virgin females were analysed via GC-MS. Available candidate compounds for the female sex pheromone were tested via electroantennography on palps (electropalpography) of adult virgin females and on females in behavioural trials. We propose sulcatone (6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one) as a candidate substance for the female volatile pheromone and several long-chained alkanes and alcohols as candidates for contact pheromones. Apart from demonstrating that attraction of males to females depends on the latter's developmental stage, our study suggests that pheromones can also play an important role between females, an aspect that requires further attention" |
| Keywords: | Animals Communication Female Gardens Male Pheromones *Sex Attractants *Spiders Autodetection Electrophysiology Female-female-interaction Olfaction Sex pheromone Spider; |
| Notes: | "MedlineFischer, Andreas Schulz, Stefan Ayasse, Manfred Uhl, Gabriele eng Germany 2021/08/28 Naturwissenschaften. 2021 Aug 27; 108(5):38. doi: 10.1007/s00114-021-01747-9" |
