DOI: 10.5061/dryad.sxksn03dk
title: Data from: Floral spatial morphological characteristics preferences facilitate mating and predation in flower-visiting spiders

description: Numerous flower visitors exhibit varying preferences for floral
 characteristics. As one group of flower visitors, the preferences of
 spiders for flower colour have garnered attention; however, their
 preferences for the spatial morphological characteristics of flowers
 remain largely unexplored. This study investigated the preferences of
 flower-visiting crab spiders Ebrechtella tricuspidata for flower
 size, petal density, and symmetry, and explored the underlying
 reasons from the courtship and predation. The results indicated
 that male spiders preferred larger flowers, while females favored densely
 petaled flowers and symmetrical flowers. Additionally, males exhibited a
 stronger preference for females that sitting on larger flowers than on
 smaller ones. Furthermore, consistent with spider preferences, the
 potential prey houseflies and honeybees, also showed a significant
 preference for larger, densely petaled, and symmetrical flowers in
 visitation experiments. We propose that prey preferences for
 floral characteristics may be a primary factor influencing spider
 preferences. We hypothesize that the flower
 characteristics influence insect visitation preferences, which
 may extend to third trophic level predators, thereby determining
 the preferences of flower-visiting spiders. Overall, our research provided
 new insights and evidence regarding spider preferences for floral
 characteristics, emphasizing that these preferences may facilitate both
 predation and mating in spiders.
description: We used <em>E. tricuspidata</em> spiders and odorless
 artificial <em>L. maximum</em> flowers to conduct all
 experiments. First, the preferences of <em>E.
 tricuspidata</em> for floral spatial morphological characteristics
 were assessed by offering spiders (a) large versus small flowers, (b)
 densely versus sparsely petaled flowers, and (c) symmetrical versus
 asymmetrical flowers. Second, the mating preferences of <em>E.
 tricuspidata</em> were examined by presenting males with females
 sitting on flowers with different characteristics. Third, we tested the
 visitation preferences of the potential prey of the spider for flowers
 with different characteristics.
description: This README_data was generated on 2024-03-07. \--------------------Folder:
 data-------------------- This folder contains 3 files. ### 1.
 1_spiders_choose_flowers.csv: the results of experiment 1-6, female and
 male spiders choose flowers with different spatial morphological
 characteristics. Number of variables: 5 Number of rows: 299 **Variable
 list** * no.: the number of trials. * treatment: the pair of flowers
 presented to the spiders. * spider: the male and female spiders that
 choose between flowers. * results: the choice made by spiders between
 flowers with varying spatial and morphological characteristics. In the
 "large flower-small flower" treatment, a refers to the female
 spider selecting the large flower, b to the small flower, c to the male
 spider selecting the large flower, and d to the small flower. In the
 "densely petaled flower-sparsely petaled flower" treatment, e
 refers to the female spider selecting the densely petaled flower, f to the
 sparsely petaled flower, g to the male spider selecting the densely
 petaled flower, and h to the sparsely petaled flower. In the
 "symmetrical flower-asymmetrical flower" treatment, i refers to
 the female spider selecting the symmetrical flower, j to the asymmetrical
 flower, k to the male spider selecting the symmetrical flower, and l to
 the asymmetrical flower. * choosing.time: the duration from the start of
 the trial until the spider first contacts a flower, measured in seconds.
 Note: The NA values in the file 1_spiders_choose_flowers.csv indicate that
 the spiders failed to select in the trials, therefore the values are not
 available. ### 2. 2_male_spiders_choose_females.csv: the result of
 experiment 7-9, male spiders choose females that on flowers with different
 spatial morphological characteristics. Number of variables: 4 Number of
 rows: 62 **Variable list** * no.: the number of trials. * treatment: two
 females sitting on a pair of flowers with different spatial morphological
 characteristics, from which the male chooses. * results: the result of
 male choice in each treatment. a and b refer to the male spider choosing
 the female on the large and small flowers, respectively. c and d refer to
 the male spider choosing the female on the densely petaled and sparsely
 petaled flowers, respectively. e and f refer to the male spider choosing
 the female on the symmetrical and asymmetrical flowers, respectively.. *
 choosing.time: the duration from the start of the trial until the spider
 first contacts a flower, measured in seconds. ### 3.
 3_insects_visit_flowers.csv: the result of experiment 10-15, the visit
 rate of insects for flowers with different spatial morphological
 characteristics. Number of variables: 7 Number of rows: 175 **Variable
 list** * no.: number of trials. * insects: housefly and bee * treatment:
 the pair of flowers presented to the insects. * flowers: in houseflies, a
 and b represent the visit rates for the large and small flowers,
 respectively. c and d represent the visit rates for the densely petaled
 and sparsely petaled flowers, respectively. e and f represent the visit
 rates for the symmetrical and asymmetrical flowers. In bees, g and h
 represent the visit rates for the large and small flowers, respectively. i
 and j represent the visit rates for the densely petaled and sparsely
 petaled flowers, respectively. k and l represent the visit rates for the
 symmetrical and asymmetrical flowers. * visitation.percentage.10: the
 visit rate for flowers in 10 minute * visitation.percentage.20: the visit
 rate for flowers in 20 minute * visitation.percentage.30: the visit rate
 for flowers in 30 minute