DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pc866t1xc
title: Males discriminate between substrate-borne cues of conspecific females based on age and mating status in the jumping spider, Habronattus brunneus

description: Sexual selection is often studied with a focus on female mate choice,
 wherein females evaluate male signals to select an optimal mate. However,
 in some systems, males should also make careful decisions about the
 females they choose to court, particularly when faced with the risk of
 precopulatory sexual cannibalism. Here, we explore the idea that male
 jumping spiders (Habronattus brunneus) may mitigate this risk by
 responding to female cues likely associated with female aggression and/or
 receptivity. We tested mature male spiders’ ability to discriminate
 between substrate-borne cues (i.e., silk and excreta) produced by
 conspecific females of different ages and mating statuses. We found that
 males spent more time exploring cues produced by mature females compared
 with immature females and more time exploring cues produced by non-mated
 females compared with mated females. Heightened interest in cues produced
 by females that are sexually mature but not yet mated may allow males to
 reduce cannibalism risk, reduce wasted courtship effort, and increase
 their reproductive success. The use of chemical and/or tactile cues in
 courtship behavior has been vastly understudied compared with the ways
 they use vision; this study provides groundwork for understanding how
 these sensory modalities interact.
description: # Males discriminate between conspecific female cues based on age and
 mating status in the jumping spider, *Habronattus brunneus*
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pc866t1xc](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pc866t1xc) This dataset is divided into three datasheets: one for each experiment conducted. The first experiment involved testing male response to control stimuli vs. a female treatment to demonstrate males could discriminate between filter paper treated with female cues and an untreated paper control. In the second experiment, we tested the male ability to discriminate between female cues based on female age, and in the third experiment, we tested the male ability to discriminate between female cues based on female mating status (mated vs non-mated). We found that males showed heightened attention to the expected female cues in all three experiments. ## Description of the data and file structure This dataset is divided into three datasheets (one for each experiment conducted). It should be noted that the video analyses for both experiments were conducted blind, as trial identifiers contained no information to reveal the treatment of each side, and treatments were randomly assigned to each side when preparing each trial. When data were input during video analysis, each observation was recorded as 'right' or 'left' rather than 'female' or 'control'. Only after all videos were analyzed did we sync the individual observations to the database metadata and generate totals for each treatment by trial. Finally, each datasheet has been organized in a format conducive to running a paired T-test. #### Sheet descriptions: ##### 'exp1\_control\_vs\_female' This sheet includes the trial ID ('trial_id'), filter paper treatment ('treatment', where 'female' indicates filter paper was exposed to a mature, non-mated female and 'control' indicates untreated filter paper), and the time (in minutes) a male spider spent on each filter paper treatment ('total_time_min') in the associated trial. ##### 'exp2\_juv\_vs\_adult' This sheet includes the trial ID ('trial_id'), filter paper treatment ('treatment', where 'adult' indicates filter paper was exposed to a mature, non-mated female and 'juvenile' indicates filter paper was exposed to a female that had not reached maturity), and the time (in minutes) a male spider spent on each filter paper treatment ('duration') in the associated trial. ##### 'exp3\_mated\_vs\_nonmated' This sheet includes the trial ID ('trial_id'), filter paper treatment ('treatment', where 'mated' indicates filter paper was exposed to a mature female that had previously copulated with a conspecific male but had not yet deposited eggs, and 'virgin' indicates filter paper was exposed to a mature female that had not mated previously), and the time (in minutes) a male spider spent on each filter paper treatment ('duration') in the associated trial. Note the term 'virgin' was replaced with 'non-mated' in the creation of figures for these data.