Predator mimicry refers to a peculiar and rarely investigated example of Batesian mimicry in nature. This mimicry scenario exists between predator and prey in which prey resembles the form, behaviour or signals exhibited by the predator to avoid or reduce risk of predation. In the Lepidoptera, there are many micromoth taxa that are phylogenetically unrelated and geographically widespread exhibiting colour patterns that are putatively involved in jumping spider mimicry. In the present study, we aimed to answer the following questions: (1) what kinds of colour pattern and display behaviour could really allow the moths to participate in jumping spider mimicry? (2) does the moth receive different predation pressure from male and female spiders? (3) why is the mimetic moth not immediately taken by the spider? Is it really because the spider sees the moth as another spider? (4) Is there any evidence justifying any visual signal displayed by the moth participated in the jumping spider mimicry? The experimental results showed that the predation rates on mimetic moths of jumping spider were significantly lower than the non-mimetic moths, and spiders exhibited specific behaviour that was displayed for conspecific communication. But not all the presuming mimicking moths can decrease predation from the spiders. Female spiders show significantly higher predation rate to the mimicking moths, while male spiders tend to display more frequently to the moth. In behaviour comparison test in male jumping spiders, we found the behaviour displayed toward mimicking moths are closer to conspecific or heterospecific female spiders, suggesting that female spiders are more likely to be the model of the mimicry systems. Previous studies have shown that UV and fluorescent signals are important in courting behaviour of jumping spider, so we block the UV reflectance signals on the wing pattern of the mimetic moths. The results show that the predation rate of moths without the UV signals is significantly higher than control group which blocked the non-ultraviolet patterns. However, there were still several jumping spiders displayed to the UV-blocking moth, suggesting the UV signals are not the only feature participate in the jumping spider mimicry system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0812109-224857 |
| Date | 12 August 2009 |
| Creators | Wang, Mu-Yun |
| Contributors | Tso, I-Min, Yang, En-Cheng, Yen, Shen-Horn |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0812109-224857 |
| Rights | not_available, Copyright information available at source archive |
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