Ontogeny of Display in Immature Schizocosa Crassipes (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Most studies dealing broadly with behavioral ontogeny in spiders have been concerned with orb-weaving (Witt and Baum, I96O; LeGuelte, I969; Peters, I969; Reed, Witt, Scarboro and Peakall, 97o). However, relatively little attention has been directed to the ontogeny of display. Immature lycosid spiderlings do not exhibit the complex stereotyped displays typical of adult wolf spiders during courtship (Rovner, I968) or agonistic encounters (Aspey, 1974, 1975). Crane (1949) reported th,a.t several species of immature salticid spiders occasionally performed abortive displays, but she considered such displays exceptions to the rule. Rovner (1968) looked unsuccessfully for courtship display in penultimate male Lycosa rabida; the tendency to court did not appear until several days after the final molt. The first study of display ontogeny in spiders was that of Dijkstra (1968, in Koomans et al., 1974), which was expanded by Koomans, van de’r Ploeg and Dijkstra (1974) who .observed a characteristic "leg wave behavior" in a variety of subadult Pardosa spp. This behavior vas observed from the second instar to the adult molt in P. lugubris and P. nigriceps, and decreased in frequency with concomitant increases, in courtship. In considering the functional significance of leg wave behavior, Koomans et a.1. (1974) suggested that courtship replaced the behavior in adult males, while in adult females, the behavior was probably replaced by specific reacti.ons to. courtship. Dijks.tra (1968, in Koomans et al., I974) observed similar leg movements in juvenile P. amentata, but the behavior was not restricted to courtship situations. Van der Ploeg (personal communication) has observed leg waving in immature P. purbeckensis in the field. Similarly, I had observed (Aspey, I974) that both male and female Schizocosa crassipes (Walckenaer) exhibit a characteristic leg wave display as juveniles.