Summary: Journal of Animal
Ecology 2007
76, 590­597
© 2007 The Authors.
Journal compilation
© 2007 British
Ecological Society
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Smaller colonies and more solitary living mark higher
elevation populations of a social spider
JESSICA PURCELL and LETICIA AVILÉS
Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Summary
1. There appears to be a pattern of decreasing sociality with increasing elevation across
social spider species in the genus Anelosimus at tropical latitudes. Our data suggest that
this pattern holds within a single species, Anelosimus eximius, on a smaller altitudinal
gradient.
2. In comparing colony size at six different altitudes in north-eastern Ecuador, we find
that the lowland A. eximius populations tend to have larger colonies and few solitary
females.Athigherelevations,manyof thecoloniesaresmallandtheproportionof solitary

Source: Avilés, Leticia - Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia

Collections: Environmental Sciences and Ecology