George W. Uetz Professor Ph.D., University of Illinois Animal Behavior, Behavioral Ecology, & Arachnology

Wolf spider communication project - Vibration Signals

 Vibration signals of wolf spiders may be produced by percussion (striking legs, palps or abdomen on a substratum) or stridulation (using a file-and-scraper mechanism located on the pedipalps). These vibrations are transmitted through a substratum (leaves, soil, etc.), and this type of communication is also called seismic signaling.  The pictures below show a male Schizocosa signaling to a female using stridulation, and the scanning electron micrographs (SEM) show the tibio-tarsal joint of a male pedipalp and the stridulating file located within.

male Schizicosa stridulating	SEM male palp	stridulating organ

The sounds produced during courtship by male S. ocreata are distinct from those of a sympatric sibling species, S. rovneri Uetz and Dondale.  Click on the oscillogram of S. ocreata or S. rovneri to hear the vibration. Vibration differences between species are among the criteria that female wolf spiders use to recognize conspecific males, and are the basis of reproductive isolation in these two closely related species.

Back to the Wolf Spider Communication Project

Home | Courses |  Publications | Research Associates | Current Students | CV | Spider & Behavior Links | Site Map

 Research: 1. Wolf Spider Research | 2. Colonial Web-Building Spiders Research | 3. El Niño Influence on Colonial Web-Building Spiders. |  4. Impact of a Ecosystem Disturbance on Spider Populations and Communities