Portia (genus)

Portia
female P. fimbriata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Spartaeinae
Genus: Portia
Karsch, 1878
Type species
Salticus fimbriatus
Doleschall, 1859
Species

see text

Diversity
17 species

Portia is a genus of jumping spider which feeds on other spiders (araneophagic). They are remarkable for their intelligent hunting behaviour which suggests they are capable of learning and problem solving, traits normally attributed to much larger animals.[1]

Distribution

The 17 described species are found in Africa, Australia, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Hunting techniques

Portias often hunt in ways that seem intelligent.[2] Their favorite prey appears to be web-building spiders between 10% and 200% of the Portia’s size. Portias look like leaf detritus caught in a web, and this is often enough to fool web-building spiders, which have poor eyesight.[2] When stalking web-building spiders, Portias try to make different patterns of vibrations in the web that aggressively mimic the struggle of a trapped insect or the courtship signals of a male spider, repeating any pattern that induces the intended prey to move towards the Portia.[3] Portia fimbriata has been observed to perform vibratory behavior for three days until the victim decided to investigate.[4] They time invasions of webs to coincide with light breezes that blur the vibrations their approach causes in the target's web; and they back off if the intended victim responds belligerently. Portias that retreat may approach along an overhanging twig or rock, descend down a silk thread and kill the prey. Other jumping spiders take detours, but Portia is unusual in its readiness to use long detours that break visual contact.[3]

Female P. fimbriata in a web

Laboratory studies show that Portia learns very quickly how to overcome web-building spiders that neither it nor its ancestors would have met in the wild. Portia’s accurate visual recognition of potential prey is an important part of its hunting tactics. For example, in one part of the Philippines local Portia spiders attack from the rear against the very dangerous spitting spiders, which themselves hunt jumping spiders. This appears to be an instinctive behavior, as laboratory-reared Portias of this species do this the first time they encounter a spitting spider. On the other hand, they will use a head-on approach against spitting spiders that are carrying eggs. However, experiments that pitted Portias against "convincing" artificial spiders with arbitrary but consistent behavior patterns showed that Portia’s instinctive tactics are only starting points for a trial-and-error approach from which these spiders learn very quickly.[3] Nonetheless, they seem to be relatively slow "thinkers", as is to be expected since they solve tactical problems by using brains vastly smaller than those of mammalian predators.[2] Against other jumping spiders, which also have excellent vision, Portias may mimic fragments of leaf litter detritus. When close to biting range, Portias use different combat tactics against different prey spiders. On the other hand, when attacking unarmed prey such as flies, they simply stalk and rush,[5] and they also capture prey by means of sticky webs.[3]

Reproduction

Portia exhibits a different mating behavior and strategy than other jumping spiders. In most jumping spiders, males mount females to mate. The Portia male shows off his legs and extends them stiffly and shakes them to attract the female. The female then drums on the web. After the male mounts her, the female drops a dragline and they mate in mid-air. Mating with Portia spiders can occur off or on the web. The spider also practices cannibalism before and after copulation. The female usually twists and lunges at the mounted male. (P. fimbriata however, is an exception; it does not usually exhibit such behavior.) If the male is killed before completing copulation, the male sperm is removed and the male is then eaten. If the male finishes mating before being killed, the sperm is kept for fertilization and the male is eaten. A majority of males are killed during sexual encounters.

Species

References

  1. ↑ Piper, Ross (2007), Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Harland, D.P., and Jackson, R.R. (2000). ""Eight-legged cats" and how they see - a review of recent research on jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)" (PDF). Cimbebasia 16: 231–240. Retrieved 2014-10-21.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Wilcox, S. and Jackson, R. (2002). "Jumping Spider Tricksters". In Bekoff, M., Allen, C., and Burghardt, G.M. The Cognitive Animal: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on Animal Cognition. MIT Press. pp. 27–34. ISBN 0-262-52322-1.
  4. ↑ Australian Museum: Fringed Jumping Spider, Portia fimbriata
  5. ↑ Harland, D.P., and Jackson, R.R. (April 2006). "A knife in the back: use of prey-specific attack tactics by araneophagic jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)". Journal of Zoology 269 (3): 285–290. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00112.x.
  • Harland, D.P & Jackson R.R. (2000): 'Eight-legged cats' and how they see - a review of recent research on jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae). Cimbebasia 16: 231-240 PDF - vision and behavior in Portia spiders.
  • Harland, D.P. & Jackson, R.R. (2006): A knife in the back: use of prey-specific attack tactics by araneophagic jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae). Journal of Zoology 269(3): 285-290. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00112.x

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Portia.