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Summary: Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Assessment during aggressive contests between
male jumping spiders
DAMIAN O. ELIAS*, MICHAEL M. KASUMOVIC*, DAVID PUNZALAN,
MAYDIANNE C. B. ANDRADE* & ANDREW C. MASON*
*Integrative Behaviour and Neuroscience Group, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto
yDepartments of Zoology and Botany, University of British Columbia
zDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto
(Received 5 November 2007; initial acceptance 7 December 2007;
final acceptance 28 January 2008; published online 30 June 2008; MS. number: A10907)
Assessment strategies are an important component in game theoretical models of contests. Strategies can
be either based on one's own abilities (self-assessment) or on the relative abilities of two opponents
(mutual assessment). Using statistical methodology that allows discrimination between assessment types,
we examined contests in the jumping spider Phidippus clarus. In this species, aggressive interactions can be
divided into `precontact' and `contact' phases. Precontact phases consist of bouts of visual and vibratory
signalling. Contact phases follow where males physically contact each other (leg fencing). Both weight
and vibratory signalling differences predicted winners, with heavier and more actively signalling males
winning more contests. Vibratory behaviour predicted precontact phase duration, with higher signalling
rates and larger differences between contestants leading to longer precontact interaction times. Contact
phase duration was predicted most strongly by the weight of losing males relative to that of winning
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